No Silence Without Sounds
by Rocks-my-socks
Summary: AU. A call from John Black brings Bo and Steve back to Salem. With Kayla's life in danger, it is time for the Brady-Johnson family to decide what's really important in life.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Days of Our Lives does not belong to me, nor do any of the characters. I just have a bit of fun with them occasionally!

 **Summary** : A call from John Black brings Bo and Steve back to Salem. With Kayla's life on the line, it is time for the Brady-Johnson family to decide what's really important in life.

 _When the night has been too lonely_  
 _And the road has been too long_  
 _And you think that love is only_  
 _For the lucky and the strong_

 _Just remember in the winter_  
 _Far beneath the bitter snow_  
 _Lies the seed that with the sun's love_  
 _In the spring becomes the rose_

 **No Silence Without Sounds**

The cell phone rang in the middle of the night. Whilst in a normal situation that would normally have caused the four men hidden away in the log cabin in the middle of Europe panic, their line of working negated any real fear. The calls came when they came. The work took it where it took them.

That was the way it had to be and the way which they had to handle such calls.

Bo, being nearest the one cell which Steve, Shane, Jack and he shared when they were at base, picked it up.

"Hello, Brady."

The voice in his ear was not the cold tone of a commanding office, but one of a friend.

It shocked him when he heard it, and there was no denying it. It was a little bit of home.

"Bo, its John."

"Hey!" he said with excitement. "How are you?"

"I'm not great – I am calling from Salem and I have some bad news."

 _John. Bad news. Salem…_

"What is it?"

He had not noted that throughout the phone call so far, his friends had kept their eyes on him. As soon as they had heard the way which Bo's tone went up and down… they know this was not business, but personal. And any notion of a personal life these days seemed foreign, mysterious and wonderful to all of them.

"Are you sitting-"

"Just tell me, please. Who?"

 _Don't tell me 'who', do not tell me 'who', let it be a 'what'…_

"It's Kayla."

His sister's name sent chills down his spine. She was so strong… he never had to worry about Kay… he worried about Hope and Ciara and Shawn Douglas and how they were ever going to forgive him for being gone so long… but not Kayla.

He wished his eyes hadn't landed on Steve right then. His brother in law – _ex_ brother in law, not that that mattered to them – knew in a heartbeat something was up.

"What's happened?"

"She crashed her car off of the Salem Highway. We are not sure why yet, it looks as if she lost control…"

The images which that painted in his mind made him feel instantly sick.

"Well, is she ok? I mean, clearly not if you're ringing me," He answered his own question…

"She is in the hospital… Bo, she is not as stable as Daniel Jonas wants her to be and her condition is still critical…"

"Critical?" he sighed. This was unbelievable… how was his life going over a cliff like this?

She was his sister and Kayla was… she was their rock. The rock of their family, she kept things going it was just what she did.

A critical condition… no. no. no. no. no.

"Bo, Roman has gone to tell Caroline and take her to the hospital… and now I am telling you. You need to come home… just in case. Steve with you?"

Bo nodded numbly as he felt the ground he was on slip away beneath him. Stumbling, he crossed to the table which adorned the small kitchen. He should have sat when John told him too. This house had nothing of home. It was a blank slate, somewhere to eat and sleep… and all of a sudden he hated it more than ever before.

"You there?"

"Yeah… yeah, I am here," Bo nodded. He had to answered the question and ask one himself… one which would stress the men about him out… "I have him with me, we'll start for home as soon as we possibly can. How are Joey and Stephanie?"

"I haven't seen them, but by all accounts, they're pretty torn up."

"What's going on?" for the first time since he had been on the phone one of his own companions had spoken to him and it was not surprise at all that it was Steve. He was never going to sit quietly once he had heard the names of his babies, knowing Bo was concerned for them.

"Ok. Tell them we are on the way. Thanks for letting me know… and, um… tell Kay I love her if you go in to see her."

"Kayla? What's wrong with Kayla?" Steve almost begged to know.

"I will."

John cut off the call and Bo let the phone drop to the table as he turned to Steve. In all their long history together… he did not think he had ever seen him so panicked… but then if their situation was reversed…

He felt as if there was a wall between them all, but then his shirt was being grabbed by two fists.

He and Steve were the best of friends… and that was why he knew his friend was trying to do nothing more than get what had happened out of him. He probably did have to be shaken out of it.

In spite of the fact that Steve was right there in front of him it sounded as if his voice was a long, long way away…

 _Kayla… what's wrong with her? God damn it, Bo, tell me man!_

"She had a car crash… she is in a critical condition… Steve, she could –"

But from the expression of his face and the look in his eye, Bo knew Steve was now he one who had frozen out what he was saying to him at the word 'critical', the way he had wanted to with John.

The two of them were silent and Jack and Shane were too taking in the news.

 _Kayla…_

"I have to go be with her… I have to go back to the kids…" Steve realised.

All of them had been working with the ISA for the last few years. All of them had been trying to take down DiMera. It was the impossible dream though… or at least it was so far… And now Stefano DiMera was the furthest thing from their minds.

Nothing mattered.

Nothing but _she_ mattered.

"I am going to ring the headquarters so that we can start working out getting the two of you back to Salem," Shane murmured.

The family was going to need them at home.

"We have to get going as soon as we can," Steve stated firmly. In fact, if he was not to explode, they had to leave now.

X x x

Adrienne poured a cup of coffee, spilling some of the hot liquid on to her hands.

"Shoot!"

It had already been a long day and it was a long way from over yet. In fact it was only eleven o'clock in the morning… how was it only eleven in the morning?

The day had begun for her like normal… it has all been so normal. She had got up at seven and she had had a shower. By eight, she had been downstairs having breakfast with Maggie and Victor. She had been planning to go in to the restaurant that morning and then she had ring Sonny and Will. She had the afternoon planned out, which involved her and her little Arianna going shopping. She was going to spoil that little princess rotten. That was a role of a grandmother, wasn't it?

But at quarter to eight she had got a call from Hope, who was frantic.

It had taken her ten minutes to get Hope calm enough to fill her in on the details.

Kayla and Grayson Fillmore had meant to meet her and Aidan for dinner last night. Gray was a law buddy of Aiden's and had been spending time with Kayla of late… it had seemed a tentative romance at first…

But then they had seemed to move almost too fast, choosing to spend time alone and no doubt swapping tooth brushes to keep one at the others place and Adrienne had not been entirely easy about it all if truth were known. But Kayla was a grown women and she deserved happiness more than she could say. Her old friend had been left on her own for far too long as far as Adrienne was concerned. If her brother was fool enough to leave her, that was on him entirely.

Naturally, Hope had thought the night before Gray and Kayla were going to be cuddled up in front of the TV with a bottle of wine.

Then she was found the next morning in a car wreck…

It made no sense.

But they were the facts. Adrienne had grabbed her coat, gone over to University Hospital, met Jen and Hope and begun waiting for Kayla to come out of surgery.

Justin had cleared his diary when she had rang explaining. The two of them were not getting on but someone had to be there for little Joey.

He was only twelve…

He needed his mama… but more than that, Adrienne knew the one he needed now was his papa. Not for the first time since all this had begun, Adrienne found herself cursing the idiot who was her brother. Steven Earl Johnson was needed at home. But she had no way of getting hold of him that she knew of.

And it killed her.

Wiping the split coffee off her hand, she took what was left in the cup and moved over to one of the chairs in the waiting room. She was not sure how long it was going to take till they got some news but she was not going to be leaving until she did.

She had been sitting alone for no more than five minutes before she felt a hand take hers. It almost made her jump until she looked up in to the face of Jennifer Deveraux.

"Any news?"

Jen shook her head knowing there was nothing to say. She had gone to call Hope if there was any news but until the investigation gotten underway properly, there was going to be no point in speculating what and why Kayla had ran off the road. And until she got back from her surgery, they could not talk recovery…

There was just nothing they could do and it was that powerlessness which Adrienne hated the very most.

And so the two of them did the one thing they could and sat in silence, hand in hand.

They were sisters of a sort after all… and they would not abandon their sister when she needed them the very most.

 _Please review!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Stephanie was on the way back to Salem, Joey had cried himself to sleep in the arms of his uncle Justin and only Jennifer Horton and Adrienne Kiriakis had stayed at the hospital once night had fallen. Kayla had come back from the surgery at four that afternoon but… but who knew what that night would bring…

 _Critical._ That was the word every one kept using. _Critical._

Hope had had to get back to Ciara. Caroline had been so distraught Roman had taken her home, fearing for his mother's health. The last thing Kayla needed was for her own mom to become sick now.

And so it had been left to the two of them to stay. They had not had to be asked.

Abigail and JJ and Sonny had all offered to come… But at the end of the day, it was better this way. They were her best friends and they could handle this…

 _A punctured lung, cracked ribs, bleeding on the brain…_

It did not sound good.

"She has always been a fighter. She is going to be ok," said Jennifer. She kept saying it as if it was a mantra. As if she said it enough times then it just had to be the truth.

That had never been Adrienne's way.

She liked facts, knowing things for sure. And right then nothing was for sure.

X x x

The journey home was so slow it was painful. The forty eight hour delay to even start out from where they were staying in the woods helped nothing.

"Why is it when you are in the ISA 'quickly' seems to be defined as a week?" Steve growled.

Two days had passed since that phone call. The one which said Kayla could very well… Bo did not like to think about it.

Steve simply couldn't. He just couldn't contemplate that possibility. All he could do was pace there small living room as if he was a caged lion. He did not sleep, nor did he eat, all he did was hold on to the past and his memories and pray to gods he had never believed in, that he had done something good once upon a time…

That he would get to hold his sweetness in his arms once more…

"Well, actually, I do have a bit of good news on that at last," Shane said as he came in to the living room.

He had had to pull a lot of strings and pull in a lot of favours… but for the people he had practically grown up with he would do it.

They were his family.

And if there was a way to get them home then he would have found it. Luckily for them, there was and he had.

"In five hours you take off. In another eight you are going to be back on American soil. In Chicago."

From Chicago it was still going to take two hours to get to Salem. With traffic it could well be more. They had lost forty eight hours already.

Who knew if Kayla could hang off for roughly (with no further delays) another twenty, Steve wondered... still, it was the best offer they had had thus far.

He reminded himself to focus on the important things… she had come through the last forty eight. Of that he was sure. For one thing, they had not got another phone call and he was sure that they would have heard if the worst had happened.

Asides that… and more importantly, he would feel it. He was sure there was something in his heart or his soul or whatever you wanted to call it that linked him to her, which bound them together.

And if she had died… he'd know it first.

"She has the guts for this Steve… we are going to get there in time."

"Let's get going," he replied to Bo. He had no time for empty comfort. But once he was moving back towards his home and his kids and his sweetness….

Things would be easier.

The two of them picked up there bags and had been about to step out of the door when Steve felt a pair of arms about him.

His brother.

"Kayla is one of the strongest women I have ever met. She can do this."

Jacks words were the first which didn't grate on Steve. Maybe because it was him who said them.

"Thank you."

"Give Jen a hug from me."

Steve nodded, but knew when he got back to Salem there was only going to be one women he truly wanted in his arms.

It had always been the way.

"Something for the road." Shane passed Bo.

Bo looked down on the phone he had been passed. This was not a work one…

"There are a few numbers in there you might want to ring – you and Steve…"

"Thank you, brother."

Shane nodded. It was nothing at all…

X x x

"Do you want me to drive you home before I go to my meeting? You look like a change of clothes and a bath would do you the world of good."

Adrienne understood in her heart that Justin was just trying to be kind but leaving then… it wasn't an option.

Forty eight hours had passed since the accident.

The police report had come back and said that while there had been no alcohol in Kayla's blood stream, she had been speeding when she had come off of the road. Honestly, Adrienne just had no idea what had happened. Kayla was a careful driver, she always had been.

None of it made any sense…

"I am going to stay till Caroline and Roman get here. I do not want her to be alone when she wakes up."

"Jen is in there."

It made no different to Adrienne though. And she knew she was not going to be going when the others turned up. She had to be there, didn't she? For Kay… and for Steve too.

It was all such a mess…

But she was.

"Is she going to be – "

Adrienne shrugged. She had no idea what they were all going to be facing when she woke up.

"How was Joey last night?" Adrienne asked.

"Pretty inconsolable."

Ok… well that settled it. At some point that day she was going to _have_ to go be with her nephew. She had to step up for him, that was what Kayla would want.

"Is he at school?"

"No, I did not have the heart to wake him in time to send him in," Justin admitted. He had decided to let the boy find what little rest he could while he could. "But Maggie said she is going to watch him today."

Adrienne nodded as she turned back to the window of the hospital room.

Something just out of sight had made her turn and when she looked in she realised why.

Instead of just sitting by the bed, Jen was now on her feet hovering just over it, holding on to Kayla's hand.

"Oh my god…"

Without a word to her husband, Adrienne turned to the door and ran in.

"Is she ok?" she asked as she rushed to Jen's side, but the blonde shot her a look as to silence her.

Then Jennifer turned back to their sister in law.

"Kayla, can you hear me?"

They were past the 'are you oks'. They were somewhere much worst.

Adrienne felt the dread spread through her heart.

She remembered that look on Kayla's face. The bewildered doe in the headlights look.

"Adrienne, she needs a note pad." Jen said to her. If Kimberly was here then they could have managed without but neither of them knew how to sign. "It is all ok, dolly. Ok, we are right here with you, we're going nowhere," she soothed her sister in law, hoping she would get the gist of what was she was saying… somehow.

Adrienne did as she was told, paying no heed to Justin's questions as she ran in and out of the room.

He was asking her if it was all ok, if Kayla was ok… but she wasn't.

And that was only made more apparent as she went back in to the room. When it had been just her and Jen, it seemed as if Kayla was able to hold it together to a degree but as Adrienne came into view she looked as if she was stricken.

As if she had been the reminder of some terrible grief.

And then her face crumpled and the patient begun to sob, inconsolably. As if there was a pain in her which not medicine could ease…

 _Please review._

I swear things will get less angsty guys!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Stephanie Johnson sat in the family room. Coming back to Salem under circumstances such as these had never been high on her 'to do list', but if her mama needed her to be there then there was no way she was going to abandon her.

Not only that but as long as Kayla was in the hospital, then she had thought her baby brother was going to need her. Coming back had been a no brainer.

She had been right. Joey had looked terrified when she had met him the night before at the Kiriakis mansion where she was going to be staying. Though as soon as she had got in, Joey had pushed for the two of them to go and stay at the apartment which he shared with their mother, Steph thought staying with their Uncle Justin and Aunt Adrienne made more sense.

"Any word from papa? I mean, does he even know what's going on?" was one the first things she had asked of her aunt.

She had had her own issues with her dad after he had ran off to go and work for the ISA again, but she was not going to deny the truth about him. If he knew what was going on, then he was going to fight tooth and nail to get back to them. That was the papa she knew and loved. He wouldn't stay out in the field. Not if he knew. She was sure of that.

"Honey, I have no way of contacting him. I know if he finds out then he is going to get back though… in a heartbeat…" her aunt echoed her belief.

"Maybe Uncle Shane will know something?" Steph prompted. She knew the two of them were working together. "Maybe Aunt Kimberly knows how to contact them…"

"Then I am telling you, he will get here. He is not going to be far off." Adrienne was sure of that too.

That day at the hospital had been gruelling… The next day promised to be the same as they were going to go to the hospital to get a formal update on Kayla's condition. But one thing had become apparent to Adrienne that day… And she did not need to be told by Daniel Jonas to understand at least part of what was wrong with Kayla.

X x x

Face time was a wonderful thing. Being able to contact your loved ones when you were miles and miles away. _Technology._ All of it was wonderful.

Roman Brady had not always realised that. If he was left to his own devices then he did not think he would know much more than send a text and make a call on his cell. But he was the Chief of the Police Department and as such he had had to move with modernity. He was no damn good to the people of Salem if he did not do that.

Not for the first time, he thanked god he had been pushed. He was grateful he had, as Ciara would say, 'got with the times.'

Because there as he sat in the hospital with his niece waiting to be called into the doctors office for his sisters condition to be explained to him, he could see the face of his brother.

He nudged Stephanie, knowing she was going to want to be in on this.

"Bo," he said as he accepted the call.

X x x

Once they had got through check in, Steve and Bo had found a quiet area of the airport to make the call.

The journey home was taking far too long for either of their likings but at least they could comfort themselves that they were on the move now and were going to be back in Salem in eight hours.

It was still too long, but at least before they got on the plane they could get a proper update.

"How you doing?" he asked Roman as he sat by Steve, the two of them side by side.

"I – I am doing ok." He said with a heavy sigh. "She is out of immediate danger."

For the first time in days, Steve felt as if the vice on his heart loosened.

"Oh god," he sighed.

And that was when the face on the screen change.

"Papa?"

"Stephanie, how you doing?" Steve asked as he saw Stephanie, swallowing down at tears that threatened. He had to stay strong for her...

Ever since she had got back all she had wanted was the knowledge he was making the same trip. And as soon as she found out that he was – she felt her own eyes wet with tears.

She had done enough crying since she had found out about her mother's car accident but apparently she was not yet quiet done.

"I am ok," she said weakly. "It is so good to hear your voice."

"It is better to hear yours, baby girl, I promise you that… are you with your brother?" Steve asked.

His daughter shook her head. "We thought it was better to send him to school so he could try and keep some sense of normality… and mama isn't as bad as she was. I hope I did the right thing."

He nodded. "Sounds like you've been brave, little sweetness. I am proud of you. I am so, so sorry I haven't been with you guys in all this but Uncle Bo and I are on our way now."

As the door to the family room opened, she sighed. "Good. We need you. Mom… she needs you the most."

"Sweetie, Daniel is ready for us now." Adrienne told Steph and Roman from where she stood in the door way.

Already she knew Caroline, Hope and Jen were in his office.

"You two going to stay on the line?" asked Roman.

"You are damn right we are going to." Steve said.

"Oh my god, Stephanie is that…"

"Hey Adrienne baby, how you doing?"

As she looked into the phone, she shook her head. "You're a sight for sore eyes, brother."

If it had been in different circumstances then Steve was sure he could have returned the compliment as he was glad to see his sister. He was always glad too…

But just then, he felt as if the only face he would be truly glad to see was that of his sweetness.

X x x

By the time they were all in the office, it was rather crowded. Steph, Roman and Adrienne were the last to arrive and made no mention of the phone as they went in.

Caroline was on edge enough, as was Hope. Whilst he sort of had no doubt that it was going to come out by the end of the meeting, Roman did not want to distract any of them from the real issue here.

Kayla.

"OK, so let's get straight to it," said the doctor gently. He did not want to keep any of them waiting any longer than they had too. "As you all know, Kayla was in a very serious condition when she arrived two days ago. My immediate concern was the internal damage as well as her brain, which initially had a small bleed on it. However, the operation was a success and the immediate danger has passed. Kayla has also dealt with three broken ribs, one of which punctured her lungs…"

There was a deathly silence in the room and in the small corner of the airport, miles and miles away…

"But she has shown real resilience over the time she has been here. My real concern now is she is showing signs of concussion as well as emotional trauma. Adrienne told me last time she lost her hearing before when she was under a lot of emotional stress."

Stephanie shut her eyes. She wished when she had been back in the family room she had mentioned that.

Her papa should not have had to find out like this.

"Yes, Kayla was in a fire but even before that – things had been hard on her," said Adrienne. She remembered how it had been when she had had to endure her hellish marriage to Jack and the desperation she had seen in her friend to be with Steve.

It had been a lot to endure, for anyone. In the end, it had simply got too much for Kayla to withstand.

There was silence in the room as they considered what they were being told.

"So we're back there?" Caroline asked at last. "She can't hear us?"

"I have tested all her reactions and – I am sorry, Mrs Brady."

X x x

"I need to be there… now." Steve growled as he got up.

If she could not hear then she… she needed him. Someone had to be there to talk to her… she was going to have no one she trusted and be unable to communicate…

He could not bear to think of her in that situation, locked away inside her head as everyone scrambled as to how to deal with the situation.

He knew. He should be there…

And he had been a fool for ever leaving her.

"It won't be long now," Bo murmured before he turned back to the screen and focused.

"The concussion is a mild form, but from what we gather has still upset Kayla considerably. While she hasn't forgotten anything, she appears to be finding it difficult to keep a chronology in her head right now."

Steve wondered how they knew that, but didn't comment. Mild concussion seemed like a little problem compared to his concerns over her hearing.

There was a pause before Jonas went on. "There is only one more thing which I need to establish."

"What's that?" asked Stephanie.

"Your mother is obviously bruised badly from the impact on the crash… however, she is also bruised on the top of her shoulders and upper arms… considerably so… " Dan told them slowly.

"What are you saying?"

"The paramedics who were at the scene can't explain any cause of those bruises."

The insinuation hang in the air.

"You think she sustained them before?" asked Roman his throat dry as his mother held his hand tighter.

"We believe so… we will know more when Kayla is properly alert and can tell us."

"Do you think it is possible someone hurt her?"

Daniel looked about at the people who were in his office and was obviously confused when it was clear the voice did not belong to any of them.

Hope froze… and Roman picked the phone up, turning in to the desk.

An obviously agitated Bo looked out from the screen.

"Are you saying some one hurt my sister?"

"That's a possibility we have to consider."

X x x

Stephanie had felt as if she was going to be sick when she had been sitting in the doctor's office.

The idea that anyone could hurt her mother set some thing off with in her which she did not think she could name. The only thing it could be term as was hatred and rage… or just plain fear.

She had no idea as to who in the world would hurt her mom. Kayla Brady was so good. She always had been. And she was kind. And – there was no reason in the world as to why anyone would hurt her.

And so she had decided to do what her aunt Adrienne had suggested they do when they had got out of the doctor's office.

She was going to choose not to worry about what they weren't sure of. There was no point in doing that. When they had something to worry about, something solid… that was the time to really worry.

But not before.

So she was focusing on one of the very few positives which had come out of that day she thought as she walked into the Kiriakis mansion.

"You want a bit of good news, little brother?" asked Stephanie as she saw Joey appear from the living room.

"Does that even exist anymore?"

He was not so sure.

For as long as Joey could remember, it had just been himself and his mother. Steph had gone off to live her own life and his dad had gone in to the ISA.

And he had hated that. For a while, he had hated _him_. He did not get why he had gone when he was meant to be so in love with their family life. With his mom…

But he was twelve, and he was young… and as far as he was concerned, somewhere down the line he had begun to consider his dad a hero. He had sacrificed so much. That was what he told himself. That he sacrificed his time and his love and everything which was precious to him to ensure what was most precious to him was kept safe.

And that the bad guys never got to them.

That was the way it had to be. If he was not going to hate their dad, then he had to consider him a hero.

And so her next words turned everything which he had been through over the last few days around.

"Papa's coming home."

X x x

Bo and Steve did not speak till they were on the plane. They were both too tightly coiled.

They would find out what had really gone on when they got back to Salem… they would have too. For nothing else could be worse than what they were imagining.

"Bo… if someone has so much as laid a finger on her, I swear to god…" Steve trailed off. Bo found himself strangely grateful to be spared the darkest of his friends thoughts.

"I know, man. I know," Bo responded. He felt much the same as they took off. Landing could not come soon enough.

X x x

Kayla didn't understand how it was possible to hear nothing. All she knew was that it was.

She could hear where the beeps of the machines should be around her, even though silence surrounded her. She could hear the audible sounds of nothingness which appeared to come out of her sister in laws mouth as they sat by her bed.

She could hear the silence which came out of Stephanie's mouth as she had greeted her on her return, in tears and panicked as she sat at her bed side. She had heard how none of Joe's mumbled phrases had any volume as he tried to comfort her in spite of being so little… her brave boy.

It was muted and hushed and silent and loud all at once. All of it.

She looked at the pen and paper. She should be able to hear the scratching of the pen on the paper as she wrote what she needed. But she couldn't…

She had never for one minute thought she would be returned to this point in time. But she had been.

And this time it was scary… worse. There was no warm hand to hold, no fingers carding through her hair soothingly, no one pulling her into their arms to simply hold her.

Last time she had been able to feel the vibrations from Steve's chest when she had laid her head on it. Even if she had not been able to hear his voice, she had been able to feel him with her… feel he was on her side, that they were fighting this together.

A tear of sheer misery skidded on to her cheek.

 _Steve…_

When she had woken up from the operation she had been so confused… he had not been there and so she had naturally believed… he was dead. What else would keep him from her? She had been apart from him for sixteen long years… the weight of her grief was just the burden she had had to bear. But then she had seen Joey and of course she had known that his daddy wasn't dead.

They had had their Joey once she had got Steve back. And whilst the weight of her grief had been lessened by that memory her despair had not been…

Because she still wanted him at her side to help her get through this. And she was still on her own.

Part of her, some deep twisted part mocked her… and said that he was dead. He may have found his way home to her once, but he had to have died again otherwise he would be here.

Even if they had divorced…

Her lip wobbled.

It was not just the heart ache over losing Steve.

It was the physical pain she was in and it was the – the…

Kayla couldn't even think about it. Not yet.

The room was dark at last, and she assumed the hall way was still.

There was just nothing, except her and the silence…

And her thoughts. And they scared her.

She wasn't sure if minutes passed or if second did or even hours. There was a clock on her cabinet but even that seemed meaningless.

She just felt painfully disconnected and utterly numb all at once.

How was she meant to… what was she meant to…

All these things were running round and round in her head as she looked towards the moon light that shone in through her window.

If she couldn't be who she was, who was she now? How would she tend her patients, who would look after Joey? Who would be there for her mom when she needed cover at the pub? How was she going to check in with Stephanie when she went back to LA?

The fear seemed overwhelming.

But then not so. Because a hand held hers…

Not Jennifer's hand, not Adrienne's. Not even Stephanie or Joeys.

But as soon as she felt that touch, one word and one word only entered her head. Because she knew that touch…

 _Courage._

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	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Steve was never the best travelling companion. The only flight he really enjoyed were the ones which had taken him on honeymoon. Sitting high in the sky with Kayla at his side, that was always fun. And the ride back from Australia… when he had his little sweetness back in his arms. That had been a good one too.

But otherwise… Not so much.

That day was no exception.

After they had got off of face time, both himself and Bo had been furious – with no on in particular, just the world in general, though the person Steve hated the most was himself. For the love of god, he did not know what had gone wrong in Africa… _if_ things had gone so wrong. He did not know why he and Kayla did not stay and sort things out for them always had done in the past…

The words they had said to each other after he had got his memory beck had been relegated to cheap sweet nothings once they gave up, once he went away. He had said he loved her and he was never going to leave her again and that she was never going to have to face another lonely night… So much of what made them, they had lost.

He only hoped he was not too late. He only hoped they could find it again…

He was not going to be giving up this time. Not now.

As delighted as he was that Kayla was out of any immediate danger what he had heard… It had spooked him. The last time he had felt such a need to wrap his baby up and protect her from the entire world, he had been out in the forest with her in a little hut. And he had just learned what Jack had done to her…

Somehow over time, he and his brother had managed to claw back some of what Billy Jack had taken away from them that day. They had managed to salvage something from what should have been the complete wreck of their brotherly love.

But he was glad it was Bo who was with him on that flight. Having Jack with him just then would have made everything worst… or given him a target on whom he could take out his frustrations… One or the other and he did not think either was a good thing considering the state of mind he was in.

"This is taking too long," he heard his brother in law say.

Wasn't that just the story of their life though? And wasn't that what Bo was most afraid of just then?

When they had got into this mission, they had been told they were going to be in it for six months and by the end of it they would have made sure the phoenix was never going to be able to rise again.

That had been the idea. _For Benjy_ …

To do that as a final act of love for the boy he had cherished as a son would have felt good for Steve. He could have then let him rest in peace.

Then he had made a tough choice… or mistake was a better word. The biggest mistake of his life.

He and Kayla had divorced before he had gone… he hadn't wanted to make a widow out of her for the second time, he thought as his past logic came back to him. It hadn't been great at the time and it sounded even worst now but that had been his thinking…

He hated he had used that as an excuse. Hated that he had left his family. Hated that he had wasted all that time.

But what he hated even more were the unexplained injuries which Kayla had…

The last time she had lost her hearing… the last time she had been mute was when she had been under a considerable amount of stress, stress which he had always felt he should have shouldered more of for her.

So for her to go mute and deaf now – well, something had to have happened to her. Something bad. The unexplained bruises… all of it just conjured up the worst imaginings in his head. No matter what had happened to her… it could not be worse than what he was imaging. He blinked and swallowed, chastised himself for ever leaving her side all over again. He had done it for the last time, he thought.

If he was lucky enough to get her back… if by some miracle they could be together again… he would never let her go…

Not this time.

"We are going to be back there soon. That is what we have to focus on, Beauregard."

And when they were there, they were going to be able to make things that should never have gone wrong right…

At long last they touched back down on American soil. Knowing that they were in the same country as Kayla and the rest of the family helped… but it was still not enough. It would not be enough till they were at her side.

Thankfully after the delay on the other side of the flight, they got out of baggage claim in record time.

"University Hospital," said Steve as they flagged down a cab with ease. It was coming up to midnight and the streets were quiet. They'd be there in no time at all, he thought to himself.

"How you doing?" his best friend asked.

"Better… better now. And you?"

"Looking forward to seeing Kay… and Hope… and my little one."

Steve smiled. It had been a very long time since he had seen his little niece. It would be nice to catch up with every one…. But he had to see his own little dude as well as his little sweetness before anyone else, save their momma.

Being back in the hospital felt bizarre… it was sad that they had to see this part of Salem first on their return but even this place held plenty of memories of their loved ones.

Steve could not recount all the times he had been here with Kayla over the years. He had to focus on this one yet his mind swum with memories. Memories of holding Stephanie when she was born and memories of standing by Joey's incubator as he fought for life, memories of the kidney operation and Kayla's car crash and the day he had brought her in when she had got caught in the basement fire…

Checking the text on the phone from Roman, it was easy enough to find her room and before they knew it they were at the nurse's station just down the hall from where she was being treated. Up until that moment they had been marching in time with another to the room. Now, Bo slackened his pace. As much as he wanted to see his sister… something in his said he could see her after he had had a coffee.

"I – you go on in," he said as he sat on some chairs. He was not the one she really needed and no doubt Steve wanted a little privacy with her…

Together they had troubles for hours and hours… "You sure?"

"Yeah. I know my sis," Bo said as he put his bag down.

Steve nodded his thanks but the enormity of what was going on was suddenly hitting him as he walked down to her door.

It felt as if being with her was all he had wanted for a long time… a life time. And he had been panicking ever since he had heard about her accident. And now there was nothing than a door between them, no time, no distance… just a door. It was time to close the distance.

He knocked on the door before remembering how little good that was. He had wanted to announce his arrival but, of course, when his brain kicked in to gear he knew he was not going to be able to do that.

It felt rude to just walk back in to her life as if he had never left it but he had no other choice. She couldn't hear him… she had to see him to know he was there.

The room was dark when he walked in and he earnestly prayed that she was getting some much needed sleep. If that was the case then he could just see her that night and then they could be reunited the next day when she had just a little more strength.

But he had watched her sleep so many times that he knew as soon as he got in there that she was not quite asleep then.

She was facing away from him, but he knew and he heard her sniff gently as he shut the door. The sound tore at his heart and he knew she had been crying.

Breathing deeply, he took just one moment to compose himself for he knew he had to be strong for her, if she wanted even that. She might just turn him away, he knew that. But that was why he had come… to be strong for her. As well as to quell his own selfish, desperate need to see her.

He crossed the room… his natural instinct was to run a hand through her hair or to stroke her back but that all seemed to intimate after their separation. He settled for slipping his hand into hers.

For a moment she did not respond at all. She just lay there with her back still facing him before she shifted in bed, her eyes remaining on the hands which were clasped together for a while. The fact she hadn't pulled away was a blessing and he put his other hand on top of hers. The tension which existed between them could have filled the room or may have just been in his head, he wasn't sure. All he knew was he wasn't letting go. Not this time.

What he was sure of was that as she finally allowed her eyes to travel up his arm and rest finally on his face, they were filled with tears.

And hurt. And pain. And for the millionth time he knew he should never have ever left her side.

Guilt attacked him from the inside out.

"Hey baby." He hadn't meant for his voice to break. Not that it mattered.

Her lip wobbled as she saw his lips move…

' _Sweetness, are you ok?'_ he signed.

She shook her head. She was not ok.

X x x

It took a supreme effort to bring her arms up to her chest. Kayla had laid as still as she could since she had been in the hospital for fear that any given move would hurt.

But she couldn't… she knew what she wanted and what she needed. And even though she was quite sure why the two of them seemed to have been apart for a while, she just didn't care.

Steve was just another word for 'safety' to her. He embodied so much she had relied upon, and he had done for all the days of her life.

And she needed him. No matter what had gone on… what mattered was right then.

' _Hold me.'_

She knew from the look in his eye he was hesitant for some reason… but then there was a longing too. A longing give in to her request.

' _Baby, I –'_

' _I don't care about the last few years or however long it has been since we were angry at each other. I don't know what we were so angry about. You are here now. Just hold me.'_

It had been the first time she had been able to communicate what she wanted with ease for days. There was no way she was going to allow him to deny her.

Thankfully, his resolve seemed to crumble.

He paused only to remove his shoes before sliding on to the hospital bed at her side. How many times they had laid one of these together she was not sure.

But what she did know was now there would be one more time added to that list.

He was gentleness itself as she adjusted herself against him to find a way of laying which was comfortable and painless… the former was achieved and she found her head pillowed on his shoulder, his lips resting on her forehead as he greeted her. The latter they were not going to be able to achieve. No matter how she lay she was going to be in pain. But at least when she was with Steve she was allowed a little balm to her wounds. He always had applied that.

Honestly, in spite of the fact she could feel and smell and touch him, she was not quite sure that he was real. When she had come round from the surgery, she had been so sure Steve was dead. When Adrienne had come in to the room, her old friend had been a reminder of her brother and his absence… well, Kayla had jumped to conclusions as the loneliness she had felt for years and years had threatened to take over again. She had lost any semblance of what was real and what wasn't…

But it seemed she was wrong… he appeared to be right there with her. And even if he was not real, even if this was the most wonderful dream… then she could still take enough of the two of them from that night to get her through the rest of it… whether he was there when she woke up or not.

X x x

Steve wasn't quite able to believe that she had invited him up on the bed with her. To hold her and to touch her as he had once been able to… it was beyond all of his expectations and in a way it made him feel guilty – what if when she really came round she decided that by accusing of her request he was somehow taking advantage of her?

What if that was the reality of the situation…

But Kayla had never been a feeble minded women, she had always known her own strength and her own mind and when she had cut him off he had had cause to remember that. He saw it in her eye she knew things were not as they should be between them. But she just didn't care…

She needed this as much as he did.

And so he had climbed on by her side and taken her in his arms.

"Ahh, sweetness…" the knot which had tightened in his stomach ever since he had found out she was in danger loosened. "Sweetness, I am so, so sorry this has happened to you. I am so sorry I went away…"

Tears trickled down his cheeks as her felt the relief of their reunion flood through him. He kissed her forehead and stroked her hair and generally allowed his instincts to do the rest. Comforting Kayla when she was in distress was second nature to him. It was like breathing, it was simply something which he needed to do…

The last few days had been hell… but they were over.

She lay in his arms in the darkened room. Sleep seemed torturously far away but silence was no longer her only companion. She had him. His heart beat, his arms, his hands… she knew deep down, and when morning came they were going to have to face the reality of their situation, whatever it was. They were separated, though it felt only in theory right then… and they had a lot to work through.

But she had been hurt… and he had come for her.

That was all Kayla needed to know for the time being. There was the bottom line.

If she needed something, he would hear her, he was understand her and he would speak for her.

And that was a comforting thought indeed.

She wasn't sure when she surrendered to sleep. All she knew was his hand was running through her hair when it took her… and no one and nothing would hurt her that evening. Not with him watching out for her…

Kayla slept a deep, dreamless sleep that night.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Even if it was hospital coffee, the coffee which Bo had found in Salem U tasted more like home than anything else he had drunk over the last few years.

The warm liquid warmed him through and gave him a much needed caffeine hit as he tried to work out when he had last had a decent night's sleep. The real answer of course was the last time he had slept next to Fancy Face. Either because of the sleep deprivation or for another reason he was not yet ready to admit to himself, he was not quite sure how long ago that was.

Of course due to the fact that he was enjoying his drink, he found it ended far too fast. He was going to be able to get more where that had come from now he was home he comforted himself. In fact, when morning came he was going to be able to go to the Brady pub and have a coffee with his mom.

That he had dreamt of.

But even more than the rest of the family he had dreamt of seeing his little girl and her fancy fancied momma.

He had to go home to them now.

That was brought home to him more than ever when he stuck his head round the door of his sister's hospital room. He had been planning on saying hello, but he had soon decided that disturbing her and Steve was a bad idea. They had been back no more than an hour, and his best friend was curled up with his sister as if they had never been apart. It was as if no time had passed for them.

Images of holding Hope that very evening the way that Steve was holding Kay ran through his head…

And they caused him to want to all but run home…

The sun was coming up as he headed back through the familiar streets a few hours later. Part of him said he should have just got a cab home but that was no way to get reacquainted with the town he called home.

Salem. The feel of it, the look of it… the very smell of the place hadn't changed at all.

Everything that had ever been of any great significance in his life bar a few occasions, had happened here. This was where he and Fancy face had dated and courted and fell in love. This was where they had got married, though they had done that a few other places as well.

This was where they had had their babies. He took in a deep breath as he remembered this was where they had also buried their babies.

The miscarriage… then there had been Zach.

The need to hold his little one in his arms over came him and he pushed on through the town.

He could take in the sights and the sounds once he had checked in with those who mattered the most.

It was only when he got to the house he realised it was just gone six. Though he had his key in his pocket, for the first time it occurred to him he probably shouldn't use it.

If Fancy Face heard someone moving about down stairs before time then she was going to freak out and that was not going to help his cause.

And so he sat across the street, by some bushes and waited.

And told himself things were going to be ok. Soon enough he was going to be with his family again.

As for Kayla, she had Steve to lean on and they were going to get to the bottom of what happened to her. What was important was that they were home and they were safe.

And soon enough they were going to be all gathered in together. The Brady's would reform.

And this too would pass.

X x x

Kayla awoke to her brightened hospital room about seven thirty. For the first time since she had been admitted she felt as if she had had a half decent sleep.

But that also meant she forgot where she was for just as second. She thought she was at home in her own apartment with her little boy sleeping just down the hall. Realising that wasn't the case was both pleasant and unpleasant.

While her memories of before the accident remained somewhat confusing to her, as soon as she realised where she was the memories of the night before rushed in to her mind.

 _Steve._

The fact that she could feel the space in the bed next to her empty panicked her but as she looked frantically around to the window, she saw she had not been dreaming the night before… and the bed was probably only empty because he had woken before her.

There he stood and for just a moment, she had the chance to observe him.

Part of her, the young, romantic Miss Kayla Brady would always see Steven Earl Johnson as the smart mouthed punk Patch who she had seen through.

He would always be in light washed old jeans, an old T Shirt and leather jacket.

The young Mrs Kayla Johnson, who was still very much part of her too, would always see him as he was when he made good when he crossed over in to respectability…

She remembered him as he was the day he proposed to her for the… third time. In his trousers and his shirt with a goatee and being nothing short of utterly devoted to her and their beautiful daughter.

And then she remembered him as he was when he had found his way back to her after all those lost years. A little older, a little leaner… but still her beloved Steven Earl.

He seemed to be all of things wrapped in to one now. Of course those parts of him hadn't left him any more than they had vacated her memory.

A leather jacket hang on the back of the chair by her bed. His hair was a little closer to grey than before. He was still wearing old washed out jeans.

And he also still had the eye patch he had had nearly all along, from which he had earned his name.

Despite all the time they had lost of late, there was one other big similarity to the man she had known for her whole life long too.

She was in trouble. Real trouble.

And he had come running to her side.

'Morning'. She was so lost in her thoughts she had almost missed the sign.

'Hi,' she returned.

'How you feeling?'

How was she feeling? Sore. As nice as it had been to be held by him the night before it had also meant, she could only guess she had been stuck in one position to long. She was going to pay for it that day.

'Not so bad.' She lied. And he knew she was lying.

She was bruised and battered and had been through something which he could not yet rightly name. She had also lost hear hearing and her ability to speak. She was a long way from 'not so bad'. But she had courage and spirit and that was what counted when it came down to it.

In the cold light of day, their communication, as easy as it was between them became stilted. More practical. The night before was not a moment to be regretted – it was to be cherished.

But things were possible under the cover of night that just weren't in the brood light of day.

'Do you need anything, sweetness?'

She shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips at the familiar endearment.

'Ok. I am going to go let you rest and catch up with Stephanie and Joey.'

As much as there was no way in hell she wanted him to go, that seemed a good idea. The two of them had tried to hide that they had been freaking out since everything had happened from her, but of course they had not been successful. She was their mama. She had seen the panic in their eyes and it had broken her heart.

But, perhaps, some time with their papa could soothe them a little.

'That's good. They need you,' she nodded. Then she bit her lip. Part of her knew she did not have to ask, but the other part of her needed to be sure. As long as he was not at the hospital then she was… well, she felt as if she was on her own. 'You're going to come back later, aren't you?'

Steve wasted no time in signing back.

'You try and stop me,' he said with a smile.

She nodded. That was what she had needed to see.

'Now… where's my little sweetness and my little dude?'

X x x

"And have we all got PE kits," asked Hope as they left the house.

"Yes," chorused Chase and Ciara as they headed towards her car. Aidan had a meeting that day and so Hope was on the school run.

She paused at the door, until Aiden followed them out, looking at his phone in frustration as he did so.

"Anything?" she asked.

"No… nothing. I don't get it, Grayson and Kayla were going well I thought."

"Well, so did I. But that doesn't change the fact no one has seen him since the night of Kayla's' accident. They were alone that night and presumably, he was the last one to see her before she got in the car. I need to talk to him." Hope stated simply.

It was hard to do though. This case was and had been emotional for her for obvious reasons. She had grown up with Kayla and she was Bo's sister… then there had been the few words she had heard Bo say when they had been in Daniel's office.

That she had actual proof her sweetheart was alive… that was a big deal, not that she would ever say it out loud.

"You can't think he had anything to do with it?" he said as his eyes went wide. Gray was a good guy, they had worked together for almost a year, Aiden knew that. He would never have suggested him if he had thought he would be a danger to Kayla…

"I do not know what to think right now. I can't ask Kayla for obvious reasons and even when Kimberly gets here, I don't want to pile any more pressure on her. She needs rest." She sighed, running a hand through her hair.

There was a pause for a moment before he stepped closer to Hope and placed a kiss on her lips.

"She is going to be ok."

Hope nodded. "I hope so. I – Joey and Stephanie need their mom, and I do not think Caroline could take it if something happened to her – I really don't think her heart could take it."

"Kayla will be home soon, you'll see."

Hope nodded, if only so she did not have to hear anything else which neither knew if they might be true.

But then she knew he was only trying to help her… he was a good man.

"Come here," she said as she wrapped her arms about him. If she was going to get through the day when she knew she may as well start it of right.

"I am going to be right here if you need me, ok? All you have to do is give me a ring."

She nodded. She wouldn't, but it was nice to hear it. He kissed her gently on the forehead.

"And I am going to cook for the four of us tonight. And I will pick up cake on the way home."

"That, Mr Jennings, is a definite plan," she said as she stepped out of his embrace. Lifting her hand to his cheek, she brushed it gently before she turned to the kids who expressions said it all.

She would have thought they'd be used to it by now.

"Come on, you two. In the car."

"Be good today, ok guys? Learn something," Aidan said with a smile as he kissed the kids in turn.

"You're so embarrassing," Ciara said with a long suffering sigh.

Aidan crossed to his own car, stopping only to wave to his son and the Brady women before driving off. Hope set out for St Luke's not so long after.

Neither had noticed the man standing some distance away, who now had tears trickling on to his cheeks.

 _Welcome home, Bo._

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	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"You look like you dropped a dollar and found a cent," Steve said as he caught up with Bo. He had run a little way down the road when he saw the forlorn figure of Bo Brady up ahead of him.

Bo smiled grimly. He guessed that just about covered it – but at the same time not really.

"How is Kay?" he asked.

Steve shrugged. "You know Kayla… she is putting a brave face on it as much as she can but it is clear she is in pain."

The fact made him sick… but he was going to do all he could to ease it. "Did you come in…" he trailed off.

"What? To see my sister last night?" Bo smiled, he later realised, bitterly at the memory. Steve had got to hold the love of his life all night long. He, on the other hand, had had to watch another man kiss wife and daughter goodbye for the day that morning. He pushed those thoughts down. They were unfair and cruel. Kayla and Steve deserved to be happy. And she needed him…. "Yeah, seemed as if you had it covered."

Steve smiled sheepishly.

"So I take it you are on your way to see your dad?"

"Looks that way. Are you going to Kiriakis' mansion too?"

"I am," Steve said with a smile. "Stephanie has been staying there since she arrived and Adrienne has been watching out for the little dude there too."

Bo wished he was in Steve's position then suddenly - going to the mansion to be reunited with those he loved the very most. But at the very least he was going to get to see his dad and get a shower – no doubt a good meal too.

And some sleep. He was not sure when the last time he slept was… so may be after everything he already felt he had lost since they had come home… he should just be grateful for what he could get.

X x x

"I do not want to go to school."

"Buddy, I know you don't… but there is nothing you can do here. And it might help you take your mind off… things."

"Off momma, you mean. Yeah, it is not going to happen," said Joey as he slumped down on the sofa.

Honestly, Stephanie had no idea how she was meant to get him off to school, she thought as she ran a hand through her hair. She had told her aunt she had it covered so Adrienne could have a lie in… but she did not seem to being doing a good job. If she had been about more than she was sure she would have felt as if she had a bit more of a mandate to tell him what to do but as it was, for the past few years, it had just been him and their mom. She was all he had had. Stephanie knew Joey was not going to be cool with her playing the big sister card now.

"I know your freaking out. And I know all this is scary."

"I am not scared," he scowled up at her in an expression which reminded her of their dad.

"Aren't you? I am," she shrugged as she sat down by his side. "I am. I am scared I am never going to hear our mom's voice again. I am scared she is never going to hear us again. I am scared that she is scared and can't communicate or tell us what she needs. I am scared I won't be strong enough for her."

Joey just nodded. That was all she needed to know… all of these things scared him too. All of them.

He just hadn't wanted to say it.

"The best thing we can do for her is to show her that while she is fighting this thing, we can keep ourselves on the straight and narrow." She added as she mussed his hair a little.

The fact the twelve year old didn't pull away immediately told her he wasn't feeling right.

"Your sister is right, honey. There is nothing more than you can do but keep going to school and keep a smile on your face when you see mama," Adrienne said from the door where she stood holding a coffee.

"I thought you were having a lie in today," Steph sighed. She was sorry to see her up so early. She had done so much, for all of them lately, that she deserved the break.

"You know me, dolly girl. Up with the sun."

Stephanie did not know if that was a lie or a cover for the fact she couldn't sleep with everything going on. But she could take a good guess. Out of respect for their aunt, she let it slide.

Steph ran another hand through her brother's hair.

"Where is Uncle Justin?"

Adrienne shook her head as she took a sip of the coffee she had been holding. She was running off the stuff lately. "He had to go out to an early meeting. But I am sure he is going to be back later. So… school today, young man?" she asked her nephew.

Joey scowled before conceding.

"School."

She nodded approvingly before giving with a wink. "You're doing the right thing."

"Well… can I have a lift? I don't want to be late…" he shrugged.

Adrienne didn't suppose after all their persuading that she could seriously deny him a ride.

"Of course. I'll met you at the door, I'll just grab my keys."

Joey nodded, grabbed his bag and dutifully kissed his big sister on the cheek.

"Love you, bugs," she said as he made for the hall way.

"Love you too."

Stephanie sighed at the three mumbled words. Normally getting him to admit that was like getting blood out of a stone. It was a testament to how he was feeling right then that he had actually admitted it. And she had no idea how to make him feel better.

Meanwhile, Joey could hear voices as soon as he left the small parlour room which he and Stephanie seemed to have commended of late so that the Kiriakis's still had their living room.

Henderson's voice particularly –

"It is so good to see you again, Master Brady. I will get your –"

But then Joey zoned out through hope alone. He knew Master Brady could be Brady Black but ever since he had arrived the butler had insisted on addressing him as 'young Master Johnson' (which was weird) so Brady had to be in this case, the last name.

And it sounded as if it had been a while since he had seen 'Master Brady'. Brady Black and baby Tate had been hanging out all of last night.

Joey rushed round the corner to get a better look. Relief rushed through him as he saw he had been right to hope… he dropped his bag, rushed past the butler straight towards his papa.

"Joey!" he heard his dad sighed as he took him in his arms and gave him a hug like only his dad ever did. His mum gave pretty good hugs as well but when he had his dad's arms about him, he felt as if nothing too much could go wrong.

His dad had left to save the world… and now he had come home to save their family.

"How you doing, little dude? You ok?" he heard his dad ask over and over but his lip was going to wobble and tears would spill out if he answered.

He had cried enough since the car accident.

"Papa!"

He did not have long enough on his own with his dad before Stephanie joined the hug, but she needed this too he knew. They both did. And she put her arm round him as well, replacing the one which his dad put round his sister.

And for the first time it seemed possible things might just be ok.

"Little sweetness, are you ok? I am so, so sorry it took me so long to get here. But I am not going anywhere ok? Ok?" Steve asked until he had got a nod out of both of them. He pushed a kiss to both their foreheads. "God, I missed you guys so much. I missed you."

Joey allowed a tear to trickle down his face when he heard his dad's voice break a little.

This moment had been a long time coming.

X x x

Bo smiled sadly at the sight of his niece and nephew and knew beyond any doubt they had done the right thing when they had come home. They were very much needed here.

That much was clear.

Adrienne was pretty hot on Stephanie's heals at getting to the scene of the reunion but she hung back. Knowing her, she was probably itching to cuddle her big brother herself… but nothing was more important than the kids at the moment.

She set the keys down on the side board, knowing beyond a doubt all her and Stephanie's good work that morning was undone. Nothing and no one would get Joey to school. Besides, even if he wanted to go, she had a feeling her brother needed the kids with him that day.

He had probably needed the kids with him for a long time.

"Hey baby," he addressed her as he finally tore his eyes off his actual babies.

"Good to see you, big brother," she responded.

"Get in here."

She needed no more encouragement as she came in on the hug. The two kid's put their arms about her as her brother kissed her cheek.

"Do you know what? I do not think I have ever been so glad to see you," she said as they kissed each other on the cheek.

"I missed you. I missed you all." He admitted, as he kissed the two kids in his arms on their foreheads again.

He had been away from home far too long…

X x x

Bo could not help but feel a twinge of guilt as he admitted the truth to himself. He was jealous.

He had gone home to see his girls and he had found another man doing all that he should be. And Steve got home and then kids ran straight into his arms.

But… that was how the cookie crumbled.

And in spite of the selfish part of himself, he was pleased for them too. His niece and his newphew were still pretty young and they had been to hell and back the last few days. How could anyone begrudge them a little time with their dad?

And it was not as if there was no one in the world who was happy to see him. He knew that as his father came in to view. No doubt attracted by all the commotion, Victor had exited the living room in search of the disturbance.

The look on his face said that he could not be happier with what he had found.

"Bo…" his father beamed.

"It's good to see you," he grinned.

Crossing the room, Victor wrapped his arms about his child.

And that was how Maggie came across the returnees, in the arms of those who loved them most.

Ten minutes passed in which Bo and Steve dumped their bags, were assigned rooms in the mansion and then bundled in to the living room for coffee, tea and best of all food.

Steve sat in the middle of the sofa, a mug of coffee steaming in his hand, his daughter by his side and his son leaning into him. Having wrapped an arm about Joey, Steve found it was hard to shake his baby boy off, not that he wanted too.

In spite of the limits which he had been under with the ISA, he had tried as best he could to keep in contact with his son. In the few chats they had been able to have, he had come to think of his son on the cusp on man hood.

He had sounded so grown up.

But now that he was back he saw the reality. Joey was just a child.

And he had needed his papa long before his mother had been injured.

Somehow, as he looked across the room to where his sister was seated in one of the arm chairs, he knew he was not going to be going anywhere for a long time to come.

As for Bo, once he had got his caffeine fix he had followed his father in to the office.

The two of them had a lot of catching up to do.

"You know it got to the point there where so much as a smoke signal would have been very much appreciated." Victor said as he sat down.

Bo could not stop a smile appearing on his face. He had been back just a number of minutes and his dad was the same old Victor. It was nice to see some things had not changed.

"I am so sorry I did not get in contact and – and I know I should have, but you know how the ISA is… I –"

"Went off and forgot you so much as had a family, I know. That must was clear."

Bo shook his head. "None of you were out of my thoughts."

"And you can be damn sure you were never out of ours. Bo, we were scared sick."

"I know you were. I cannot even imagine being on the other end of that. I am sorry. I am – I'm so sorry."

The silence alone would have killed him.

"You better be. You do not know how many times over the past three years I had my little granddaughter begging me to tell her when her daddy was coming home."

The look on Bo's face was one of such intense pain that Victor knew as soon as he said it that it had been a low blow on his part.

"I am sorry. I should not have said that."

But to his surprise his son simply shook his head. "You were the one who was here comforting Ciara and spending time with her. I think you have every right to speak to me like that."

The two of them were just going to have to stay split on that one, thought Victor.

"How is she?" it was with a very small voice his son asked him that question Victor noted, almost as if he believed he did not deserve a response.

"Funny. Cheeky. Confident. She is a beautiful little girl, growing up beautifully. Hope has done a wonderful job."

"I have no doubt that she is a credit to her. That certainly sounds like my little girl." He said with a sad smile.

"Listen, Bo, I do not want to wreck your first day at home. But I am your father and I do not want you to go in blind –"

"What's his name?"

The way that Bo looked at Victor told him all he had too.

But Bo thought he would fill him in as much as he could any way. "I went to the house this morning. I wanted to see Ciara before she went to school and to hold… my wife…. I didn't get what I wanted and they didn't see me. A man came out the house with them. He got to hug Hope before he went off to work. And he got to kiss my daughter goodbye."

Victor nodded as he considered what he had been told. "Aidan. His name is Aidan. He is a lawyer and it has been going on about eighteen months."

They had seemed comfortable so it was no surprise to learn it had been going on for quite some time.

"Have you met him?"

"Of course I have. I was never going to let him near Ciara without meeting him." Victor said.

"Do you like him?"

"Bo… what sort of question is that…"

Bo shrugged. Suddenly he just felt, very, very weary.

He looked up at him. His father looked at him with genuine sympathy.

And that was worse than anything else.

 _Please review!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

By ten o'clock, Joey had headed back upstairs.

His father's return at eight had changed everything for all of them that day. He had spent the first two hours of it bathing in his dad's affection before he had decided it was time for another sleep.

He had not rested since his mom had had her accident.

But now he had his dad back… he felt that could sleep.

Stephanie, on the other hand, had made plans to meet Abby for coffee as the two cousins were yet to catch up since she had got back to town.

"You are still going to be here when I get back, right?" she had teased as she kissed her papa good bye.

"You guys are not going to be getting rid of me any time fast…" Steve promised.

And that was how he found himself on his own with sister for the first time in years. They had the living room to themselves and a pot of coffee and at last, most importantly… time.

"I know I keep saying it but it is so good to see you. The whole family needs you here," Adrienne said as she looked at him.

"Well, that is why I am here. And I am not going to anywhere, just like I told Stephanie."

"I am glad to hear It." she smiled… then it was time for the two of them to turn to more serious subjects. "I take it you have seen Kayla…"

"How did you work that one out?"

"Well, you are sitting here with me and not busting down the door. You must have seen her."

Steve nodded. "Last night we got in about twelve. I went straight to her."

Adrienne smiled sadly. "You don't surprise me."

"She – she got hurt…" Steve murmured. She reached out, resting her hand on his arm.

"But she is strong. And she is going to be ok."

Once again, he nodded, taking a moment of silence.

She knew he was scared. Nothing scared her fearless big brother, that was what she had believed once upon a time. But something happening to Kayla or one of the kids or herself… she knew that did scare him. A lot.

"Tell me something good. Give me the gossip," he changed the subject.

She racked her brains for something to say…

"Gosh, I – I can't think." She giggled.

But his eye had landed on a picture on the mantel piece…

"How about starting there?"

She turned to the picture of herself and Justin proudly standing on either side of Sonny. Their boy was beaming in a tux. The wedding day seemed so long ago now. So much had changed.

But this was a change of subject and he needed a reason to smile. She could give him one.

"Yeah, that's a good place. Your little nephew Sonny is a married man with a baby."

"Ahh, sis you must be so proud. He has turned into a good looking dude. She must be a lucky lady, his wife."

Adrienne could not stiffen her laughter.

"Sometimes, I forget just how long you were gone. I am going to get the wedding album and you can pour us both another coffee. I am going to need pictures to help me with this."

The next fifteen minutes were spent with Adrienne glowing with pride, over the man her son was – how brave he had been when he had come out. How in love he had been with Will.

"Well, I get falling hard and fast for a Brady. I get that more than anything else," Steve said as he looked at the happy couple.

"And this… this little angel is Arianna Grace…" she pointed out as she turned the page to reveal a picture of the little girl with her daddies.

"Ahh, you can tell how much her papas love her… wait a second…" he said as his expression turned quizzical.

"What?"

"Well… if Sonny is a papa… does this… does this mean, my baby sister is a grandma? Is that what you're telling me?"

Adrienne's look told him all he needed to know, yes she was a grandma. No, the title wasn't her favourite thing in the world.

But Arianna Grace was her favourite little person in the world.

"And you might recognise these two," she said as she nodded to the other side of the page of the album they were on.

"Ahh man – how the hell did Jackson produce two such beautiful kids, I don't get it –"

Adrienne's elbow was soon is Steve's ribs.

"Hey don't –"

"You know I was just playing baby, you know that!" he laughed. It was among the first times he had done that in what felt weeks.

And that was why he kept the news about Jack to himself for then. Jack was going to come home. That was the plan. Without him and Bo it seemed as if the mission could not be completed. There simply were no longer the number of bodies to keep it going with the knowledge which was needed.

One day they were going to get DiMera. But not that day.

He simply found himself unable to explain to Adrienne all that had gone on just then. There was going to be a time when he could, but he had to get some sleep first. And before he did that he had to take the kids to see their mama and he needed to cheek on his sweetness.

Three hours had passed since he had left her side. They seemed too long now.

But Adrienne, he finally noted, was already telling him what great kids Abby and JJ were. Abby worked at the hospital and JJ was off to school in the fall and thought they had both had their issues – they were good kids.

"You're going to really get on with them."

"I am sure I am," he said with a hum.

She grinned as they lapsed into silence.

"Do you know what, little sister, you have told me about Sonny and Will and Ari and Abby and JJ – and I have caught up, or begun to catch up with my own little ones. There is just one more person I need to know about, how they're getting on."

"Who's that?" she said as she turned to him with a smile.

"You."

Adrienne wished her smiled had not faltered there but it did.

It should have been easy to gloss over everything. But it wasn't.

How was she? She wasn't great in and of herself but there were so many in the family having a rougher time than she did.

She thought of Justin and Lucas and…

"Adrienne, baby?" asked her brother.

"I am good. There is nothing going on with me at all. You know me…"

"Yeah… I do. Dimples treating you ok?"

She wished he was. And she wished she could lie to him.

But she wasn't going to lay all this at his door step. Not right now.

"It's just a rough patch, you know all marriages go through them. Don't worry about me."

"It is my job to worry about you," he reminded her.

But she shook her head. "Not this time, big brother. You just worry about Kayla, and Joey and Stephanie. Don't waste your energy on me."

He looked at her in such a way that said he did not think that could ever be a waste of his energy, but did not push the subject.

Not when she so clearly did not want to discuss it.

"Come here," he said at last and she dived in to a hug. It felt so good to have someone on her side… someone holding her back.

"I love you."

"Love you too, baby."

"And now we have got that sorted… may I make a suggestion?"

He nodded.

"Go take a shower, brother mine. A long flight followed by a night in a hospital… it doesn't smell good."

Steve chuckled. "I guess not. Shower it is… then a quick nap…"

"Then back to your sweetness?"

He nodded. That was exactly how it was going to go.

X x x

Going back to the police department where he had worked for the vast majority of his adult life was a bizarre feeling for Bo. When he had been gone, he had thought so much about the people he had missed, that he had not had a lot of time to think about the places he had missed.

But this, along with his home and the Brady pub – this was what he had missed about Salem.

But he was no longer working there. He was a visitor. And so when he got there, he asked at the front desk to go into see Chief Detective Brady, if she was in and available. Then he waited…

He did not know what jobs she has on her case book right then. That in and of itself made Bo feel out of touch.

For so long he and Hope had been partners in everything they had done. It had got to the stage where he had no longer known where she ended and he begun. But there was only one person at fault for putting an end to that… and that was him.

As he sat in the waiting area, wondering if Hope would let him in to her office or not, he saw people he had known from the old days. Some smiled and asked how he was. Others did not. They were so caught up in there days to day business…

And then he found he was not so glad to be home… as he felt like little more than a ghost. As if maybe he should not have come here. Maybe too much time had passed for him to come back to the station.

A pair of high heels clicking on the floor pulled him out of his thoughts.

And for the first time in years he was face to face with… well, his Fancy face.

"Hi," he said, his throat suddenly dry.

"Brady, you best come through to my office," she said. She did not touch him. She barely looked at him. But if she was willing to have him in the office, maybe she was willing to talk.

Quite frankly that was more than he could have hoped for – or deserved.

X x x

It felt weird for the three of them to be walking side by side, but for the first time in a long time, the Johnson family was a united force.

By the time Steve had had a shower and half an hour trying to rest, he had felt himself ready to get back to the hospital. He had not been quite as desperate to get back as he had been on the flight but it was going that way.

And so he had headed back downstairs.

Stephanie had got back from her coffee with her cousin and looked a little less frazzled than when they had met back up that morning. Joey was up too and though as soon as he saw his dad he went in for a bear hug, he was less clingy then he had been initially. And more chatty. The whole way to the hospital; he had filled his dad and sister up to speed with soccer trials and the like. School stuff. Stuff which hadn't mattered to Joey so long ago.

Now it did again.

And that was a good thing.

A very good thing.

On the way up to the hospital room, Joey became more subdued… but things were beginning to work themselves out.

When they arrived, Kayla was sitting up in the arm chair which had been placed by her bed.

She looked a little despondent with her head in the hands, for doctors were always the worst patients. No doubt she was tired as well as bored, Steve noted… until she saw her kids.

Then her face lit up, the same way it had done when the two of them were new-borns.

It was nice to see some things did not change.

"Hi mama," said Joey as he went and kissed her cheek, Stephanie following in turn. He could see how obviously the kids wanted to embrace their mum but they all knew that was not quite possible yet.

They had to be a little gentle with her while she healed.

As Stephanie took the other chair, Joey popped up on to his mother's bed and Steve stepped forward to greet Kayla.

The night before it had not been easy for the two of them, but they had had the luxury of being alone when he took her in his arms. Now he did not know if that had been a mistake or the best thing that could have happened d.

But the kids were in the room this time. So they had to be mindful of that.

Still, old habits die hard.

"How you doing baby?" he asked as he kissed her forehead.

Stepping back, he signed the question.

'Better for seeing the three of you – you're a sight for sore eyes all together.' she sighed making him grin.

"What did she say?" Joey asked.

He had been told his parents could both sign. There was something about seeing the two of them talking together which was slightly memorizing.

"Your mama just said it was good to see the three of us together." he said as he beamed at their kids.

"Can you ask her if she is in any pain?" Stephanie asked.

She knew she was – she could see it by looking at her but – but she had to ask.

'You still sore?'

'A little. Not so much.'

"She says it's getting better."

Steve knew this was going to be his life for a while. Translating for the kids and Kayla. But he didn't mind. Not a jot.

"I want to learn," Joey cut in.

"Learn what, little dude?"

"Learn to sign. I want to talk to mama, the way you do."

Steve grinned. That was his boy talking right there. "Well, then I am going to teach you," he said as he signed and spoke at the same time.

'Teach Joey what?" Kayla questioned from where she sat.

'To sign,' he said as he continued to speak and sign the words he was saying. Somehow he had always found it easier that way before any way. It was as if his mouth lead his hands. 'Joey wants to learn and I am going to teach Stephanie too,' he said knowing that his daughter was not going to protest that. 'You and the kids are going to be communicating easy, real soon."

Kayla nodded. All of that sounded very good to her.

As grateful as she was for him being there, speaking through someone else… she found things got lost in translation. And there were going to be moments when the kids would want to tell their mom things they did not want to tell their dad.

As far as she was concerned, the sooner they could sign the better.

'Thank you, Steve.'

'You don't have to thank me.'

He owed her everything. She owed him nothing.

X x x

"So I am guessing you got back in pretty early this morning," said Hope as she sat down in her office chair, nodding to the one opposite for Bo.

"Depends on the way you look at it. It was late last night really… we went straight to the hospital."

She nodded, that much she expected. "How was Kayla doing?"

"She was asleep and Steve went in. I didn't get much of a chance to see her."

Hope nodded. She guessed she could easily imagine that. Whenever Kayla was hurt or scared, their friend's protective instincts seemed to go in to over drive.

And then there was silence.

As hard as it was to believe the fact his sister had been in a devastating car accident which had robbed her of her hearing once more, that was the safest topic of conversation which the two of them had right then.

The silence stretched on and on until they broke it at once, their questions crossing in mid-air.

"How's Ciara?"

"Where the hell have you been?"

Hope's trumped Bo's. He looked down and did not know what to say. Europe… they had had a stint in Asia too, but he had a feeling geographically was not what she was talking about.

Where had he been? How could he leave them? He had always knows where his heart was. Right here in Salem. But what had he been thinking? He was meant to have been gone from his partner and his little one for a short stint to help his mom… then when he had been in LA, he had been staying with Kimberly and Shane while his mother had been in the clinic, who had mentioned one last mission.

It had sounded like a last hurrah before they all went home having taken down Stefano. They would then be able to live in peace with their wife's and kids.

It had not quite worked out that way. For any of them. He was beginning to realise it never did.

And he should have realised that a long time ago.

"Where Brady?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Hope asked. God for so long she had dreamt the two of them were going to be in the same room. And even eighteen months before hand, if he had walked through the door, then she could not have sworn she wouldn't have just wrapped her arms about him and said no matter what… she forgave him.

He had come home to his family at last and that was enough.

But now… now it wasn't. He had been gone for three years… and he didn't know where? And somewhere deep within her, a voice she didn't like that much reminded her even then he had not come home for her or Ciara.

But for Kayla. If Kayla hadn't crashed... He wouldn't be there.

"You left me on my own, you abandoned our daughter without so much as a Christmas or a birthday card for the last three years. 'You don't know?' that doesn't even begin to cut it." she said scathingly.

The two of them had walked the thin line between love and hate before but as he looked up at her with tears in his eyes, she knew the two of them were dangerously close to falling on the wrong side.

"I know I hurt you."

"You have no idea. You have no idea how much you hurt me, how could you possibly know that? YOU WEREN'T HERE."

She could no longer count how many times she had needed him at home. She only knew that there had been times when she had ached she had missed him so much.

And now he was here she was too angry to enjoy it.

"Fanc-"

"Well, I hope you got my note," she cut him off before he could finish the well-known endearment that caused her heart to contract just then. "My letter?" she asked.

"I know we're divorced, but… I – I need to explain."

"I don't need to hear it," she lied. "What I need is for you to get out of my office so I can get on with my work."

"Hope, come on!"

"No. not today!" she said firmly. All of a sudden she knew she was not going to get through this without any tears and she was not going to cry in front of him.

Apparently, he had no such pride. That became apparent as a tear fell on to his cheek.

"Well… I am home. And when… if you are ready to hear it…. I am going to be around. I am just so sorry…"

She nodded. She could see he was sorry. But it changed nothing. It made nothing better. Him being sorry did not mean Ciara hadn't cried herself to sleep more times than any child should because her daddy hadn't come home and didn't seem to want too any more. It did not take away the months of loneliness she had had to endure.

"I never meant to hurt you," he said as he got up, respecting her wishes.

He had actually already got more than he had deserved that day.

Getting up, he made his way to the door.

"Brady," she heard him call him back just as he was about to leave.

He turned not sure what to expect but she smiled sadly.

"She's good. She's ok."

Bo Brady nodded. He guessed he had seen that that morning… but it was still good to hear.

 _Please review._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

By the time Stephanie, Joey and their father had been at the hospital for an hour, it was apparent that as delighted as Kayla had been that the three of them could visit her all together and had done, the excitement was draining her. In spite of the vast improvements in her condition she was a long way from being well physically.

'Do you want some help getting back into bed?' Steve questioned. For at least the past fifteen minutes, it had become more and more obvious to him that even with him signing every word the kids said, following the conversation was a little too much for Kayla right then.

She nodded.

"Guys, why don't you run and grab a coffee while I help your mama?" Steve suggested. He had no doubt that it wasn't going to be an easy process and she was a proud women. She was not going to want her babies to see her in pain when they did not have too.

"We can stay, we don't mind," Joey shrugged, not wishing to be apart from his mother when he did not have to be.

Stephanie was more perceptive.

"But coffee does sound good and I am not going out there like a loner. Come on, loser," she said as she pulled her brother up.

"You're a loser," Joey retorted, as he went almost willingly with his sister. Just as they left the room, Stephanie threw her father a wink.

She had his back.

He turned back to Kayla.

"Okay then baby, let's get you up."

Steve put his arms gently round Kayla and helped her up the chair. If it was possible to do this swiftly, he thought to himself, it would hurt less.

What he had not been expecting was for her to put her hands on his chest and lean in for a moment. The need to be held radiated off of her and again he had to question his own morality. Kayla had concussion… but she had been pretty lucid and with it that day. His sweetness had always known her own mind. And to deny her then was beyond his capability. He had never been able to deny her. If he had his way then he would be able to pepper her face with kisses, the way he used to when they were married. Instead, he contented himself with pressing one on to the top of her head and holding her as tightly as he could without fear of harming her any more than she already had been.

"I've got you, sweetness. I am back, ok… you don't have to worry," he murmured, as he was careful not to apply to much pressure anywhere.

The one thing he swore right then and there was that she was never going to be hurt again. Not this time.

They rocked back and forward a little before he kissed her again.

"Come on, sweetness… bed time," he smiled sadly as they released one another. She sat down on the bed before he help her lay back and get her legs up on the bed. Steve could not miss the way she winced. "Take it easy, baby."

Covering her with the blankets, Steve continued to make nonsense noises. He knew they were next to useless as she couldn't hear them… but maybe somehow, he thought, she would understand. The two of them normally did get through to one another one way or another. He sat on the bed, and unable to stop himself, he reached out to caress her cheek. She leaned into his touch, equally unable to stop herself from doing so even if she had wanted too.

Just then he could not work it out… How had it all gone so wrong between them, when them being together was so right?

X x x

Steve had only slipped out the door when Joey came back for him, worrying something more was up with his mom. He had sat on the bed for more than one moment as they had just looked at one another. They never had been good at keeping their eyes off another.

Somehow through everything… the fact the four of them had had some proper time together that afternoon made some thing right in Kayla's world. A week before she had believed nothing was ever going to be ok again. She had been so afraid. And that was before the crash.

As he had left, Steve had signed to her he would be back later that day to see her. If she had to lay money on it then she guessed he was going to be coming back without the kids.

That could only be a good thing. Kayla was aware that neither of them had any idea what was going on right then. They had no idea how they were meant to be with each other. That was why they had fallen so very easily back in their old ways she told herself. Because they could not be just friends. They wouldn't know where to start being anything less than they were right then.

Honestly, She was so glad of that. Because at least that meant he would hold her. She did not know what she would have done if he wasn't there to hold her right then.

The _thud, thud, thud_ of his heart… it was strong and steady… and a life line to something more…

Just as these thoughts crossed her mind, as she thought about the hands which were there to hold hers, the door opened… and another face she loved came in to view.

She remembered how last time it had been Steve and Kimberly who had kept her from falling in to the pit of depression which had nearly engulfed her. It did seem as if history was repeating itself… in so many ways.

Overall, Kayla did not think she had ever been so glad to see her big sister in her entire life.

X x x

After the police station, it was back to the hospital for Bo. He had been back in Salem for coming on for a day and the fact that he had not seen his sister was not ok. He had come back to see her after all. He did not regret his decision to stay away the night before. The way she and Steve had been together had been enough proof of that. But he had stayed away long enough.

It was time to check on her himself.

So he did his best to push his reunion with Hope to the back of his mind. Really he could have expected no more or less… he had got what he had deserved. She was pissed and she had every right to be.

He knew that. He had to give this a little time. And while that time was passing, he would do what Brady's did best and be there for his family. He would help his mother and he would help his sister recover… in whatever way he could.

As soon as he had spent some time with Kayla he was heading straight to the pub. He only hoped the rest of the Brady ladies were going to be a little more forgiving, even if they had no cause to be.

Bo was sure to pick up some chocolate on the way to his sisters room in the hospital room, knowing they were going to be received a lot more gratefully than a bunch of grapes and knocked gently on the door before he entered.

His heart plummeted when he realised Kayla already had a visitor… but then it rose in his chest as he realised who it was.

"Kimberly?" he smiled.

This was even better. He had come to see one of his big sisters. He had got two.

When he had come into the room, Kim had been sitting on the chair next to Kayla's bed. He realised pretty quickly that it had been positioned so that Kayla could see her clearly. The last time his sister had been deaf he was ashamed to admit he had not been there for her. Not in the way Kimberly had. He had been on the other side of the world. This time it was going to be different he thought. He was going to be pulling for her.

"Oh my god," Kimberly said as she jumped off of the seat and came straight to his side. Whereas Hope's anger had kept her from embracing him, his sister had no such problem, even if she was mad as hell at him…

Which he had a sneaking suspicion would come out in the wash later.

"Where have you been? Where have you been? We have been worried sick about you, baby bother…" she said as she held him tight.

He had missed Brady hugs he realised. He did not know too many people who really meant there hugs like their family did.

"Don't you spend any time worrying about me. I am good. We need to focus on this one," he said as he looked at his big sister in the hospital bed.

For a moment, Kayla had looked as if she was confused when Kim jumped up to embrace Bo. But now there was none of that confusion. Maybe Steve had told her that he was about, he thought as she did not look surprised to see him – only glad. She looked so glad he was back and it made his heart feel much lighter…

Once Kim had let him go he crossed to Kayla. His initial joy at seeing her awake was replaced by absolute concern.

A bandage covered the right of her forehead where she must have taken a nasty bump. It was obvious where the bandages under her hospital gown bound her ribs... and then there were the bruises which peaked out from under her gown as well.

"Oh sis," he sighed as he reached down. He wanted nothing more in that moment to pull her in to one of the same bone crushing hugs he had just shared with their elder sister.

But he knew he couldn't.

Pulling back, he realised his eyes were damp with relief. No matter how bad Kayla was then, he had the small comfort she was going to recover from this in the end. Things were not as hopeless as they had seemed just days earlier…,

"Hey, come on baby brother. You know what a toughie our sister is," Kimberly said comforting.

Bo knew he was going to have to get on to a sign course as soon as he could. He hated the idea of any one diluting his conversation with Kayla. Even those he knew loved them both more than anything.

Still, as Kayla's eyes met his and she took his hand in her own, he had a feeling the two of them understood one another perfectly. She knew where he had been… _just lost_... As much as they both loved Kimberly and Roman, the two of them shared a bond.

And that bond was a comfort to him right there and then when he needed it to be the most. He could only hope it was as much a comfort to her.

"I know. It's going to be ok," he said with more confidence than he felt running a thumb across his sisters knuckles.

It just had to be.

X x x

"Hey guys, how was your mom doing today?" asked Adrienne from where she sat on the sofa.

After the excitement of that morning she had had a pretty quiet day and for the first time since Kayla had been in hospital, had forgone visiting her that day. It seemed to her, all in all, she was going to get enough visitors and she did not want to tire her out.

"Mom was ok. She sat up in a chair for a bit which was pretty good," Stephanie shrugged.

"And we could talk to her properly, cause dad knows sign language!" Joey beamed.

"I know he does, honey. He learnt pretty fast the last time your mom couldn't hear." Adrienne said proudly as she looked at her brother. Back when they had all been so much younger, he had been so devoted to Kayla. And nothing stopped him getting to her when she needed him most. She was glad to see nothing had changed.

"Yeah and soon I am not going to be the only signing Johnson. These two are going to learn fast asss well," he said as he nodded to his kids.

"I am sure Kayla is going to just love that." Adrienne nodded. "Now what are you guys all up to for dinner? Is every one in?" She asked. Poor Henderson had been harassed by the cook all morning about numbers for dinner.

It was so rare these days that the numbers for dinner went up past four that when it did… well, it was quiet the event.

"I am," Joey said flopping next to his aunt on the couch. Adrienne wrapped an arm about him, kissing his forehead.

"Yeah, me too but I think I might eat in my room if that is ok? I am feeling kind tired," Stephanie admitted.

"That's fine, honey bun. What about you, Steve?" Adrienne asked.

"I am going to grab some thing at the hospital," he said and was slightly crest fallen at the way his sons face fell. Joey recovered fast, but not fast enough. "But you know what, one night next week we can go grab something at the pub, my treat. And I will make sure I am about for dinner tomorrow."

"I should think so too. You have some birthdays to make up for papa," Stephanie scolded gently. He knew she was not just teasing though.

And, of course, she was right. He had… a lot to make up for.

And none of them were going to lose sight of that.

Still, Joey seemed placated for now. He nodded. "Can I go play on the computer for a bit?" he asked.

"Sure you can, little dude," Steve said with a wink.

Before long, the two Johnson kids had left the room. Their father was not quite surprised. A lot had gone on that day for the two of them and seeing their mother how she was right then was not easy… for any of them, but especially for the kids. They needed time to unwind, however they saw best to do that.

"They are going through it." his sister read his mind. "But then they are Brady–Johnsons. That means they are made of tougher stuff and they are going to fine..."

He nodded. He knew that…

Seeing Adrienne just then and hearing her say those words suddenly increased the weight on his chest though. He had kept secrets from her in the past and he did not want to do that again. Not when it was over something so huge.

He had excused himself from telling her about Jack that morning. Now he found he couldn't do it for a second time.

"They are their mother's kids that's for sure… and – and _we_ are _our_ mothers. You know… we're made of stronger stuff too," he shrugged as he sat down.

Now he had seen Kayla… he had to tell her.

"Adrienne, baby, I know what I am going to say now will make you as mad as hell but - but I had keep this from you because of the mission I was on – _we_ were on. If it was not for that then nothing in the world could have made me keep this from you. You have to believe that."

She looked at him as if he had gone mad...

What he was saying felt out the blue to say the very least. She knew he had been on an ISA mission but why on earth who he had been on it with would matter to her she did not know.

"Steve?" she asked as she looked at him. "I could never be mad at you right now, what are you on about?"

"This is about… well… Billy Jack…"

X x x

"Look at what the cat has dragged in at last, mama," laughed Kimberly as she and Bo made their way into the pub.

Even though it had been good to see Victor earlier on in the day, it was as Bo walked in to the Brady pub for the first time in years that he felt as if he was somewhere near going home.

He knew he could not go home to his wife and his daughter. Hope had made that clear.

But he could come back to the place he was raised.

And his mother.

The first thing he thought when he looked at her was how tired Caroline appeared.

He did not life to think about what she had been through of late. She had been… well, to hell and back he was sure… she had been sick when he had taken her to the clinic so for him to then do a disappearing act on her. That wasn't fair.

She had dark circles under her eyes and looked… frail. He had noted she was getting older when the two of them had gone to the clinic. But before that she had always just looked like his Ma to him. But now that was not the case.

He had to accept the fact she was growing in to an old lady… and treat her better than he had done of late.

"Bo… oh, my Bo," she said as she walked out from the bar.

Caroline and Bo moved at the same time to come together and then for the first time since they had gone on their trip together, they were in each other's arms.

She had been so upset with him when he had been gone. And she had been angry and worried… but now she had him back those emotions did not seem to matter so much to her.

Bo was her child, the same way Roman was and Kimberly was and Kayla was and Frankie was and Max was.

And that meant the six of them could do whatever they liked to her, put her through anything. And she was still going to love them just as much as she did the first time she had held them in her arms.

"How you doing, Ma?" he asked as the two of them embraced.

The truth was in that precise moment, Caroline was not too sure about how she was doing. On the one hand she had her baby in her arms for the first time in many years. And on the other hand she had another of her babies up in hospital, recovering from a car wreck, struggling to deal with the fall out of that.

And so she said the only thing she could.

"Oh, you know me, I am fine. Have you seen your sister?"

Bo nodded. "The two of us have just got back from there, Ma, she seemed as if she was in a pretty good spirits today. But then I know Steve went in with the kids. I think seeing the three of them all together did Kayla the world of good."

Caroline nodded. She had been so very sad to hear of her daughters divorce from Steven Johnson. Ever since they had been young the two of them had been so dedicated to each other… she was not somehow surprised by the effect his visit had had on her.

"I bet that did have something to do with it."

"Yeah, she was tired… but a little happy."

"Well, I am _very_ happy to see you. Do you want some… oh… oh Bo, honey, I know this might not make too much sense right now but I do not think you stay here for your dinner tonight." She said as if she was just remembering something.

The last thing in the world that she wanted to do was to send him away when she had just got him back.

But him staying that evening for his supper… she knew was not going to work.

X x x

Hope had called Caroline that afternoon, right before she had called Aiden. He had said she could ring at any time and so she had taken advantage of that. But she did not think he had wanted to hear what she had to say.

After Bo had left her at the office, to say she had been upset was a little bit of an understatement. His reply that he did not know where he had been bothered her for just about a million reasons. And then there was the tiny part of her which regardless of all the pain he had put her through of late could not forget the years of happiness which they had shared.

The history which they shared.

And as a consequence of that part of her was just…. Just singing because she had proof he was alive and well. They had been in the same room.

But the angry part of her… that was the one which dominated.

And, of course, just as all that was going on that was when she had got a big case in. A case which was going to have her at her desk long after she should have gone to pick her daughter up from school.

Caroline, when she had ran, had been only too pleased to go and pick up Ciara from school for her. Part of her said she should have just let Aidan do it but somehow it did not feel right. She knew she could not sit down with him and the kids and eat dinner that evening as if it was a normal night. It was not.

For the four of them to act otherwise was not possible.

"I just – I just think I need a little time with Ciara on my own tonight," she had said to Aidan.

"Well, I get that it is a hard time for you at the moment," he said referring to Kayla's accident, "but are you sure there is nothing I can do to help?"

And that was just like him to ask. Because he was sweet and he was kind. And he had given her so much of her confidence back… the confidence she had lost before they had got together.

"I don't think so… but there is something I want you to hear from me, no one else." She had sighed.

She really was not sure she could handle this conversation twice in one day and she knew she was going to have to have it was Ciara when she got home from school. But that did not mean she did not have to have it was Aiden as well. She owed him that much.

"What's up?"

"Bo is back. He heard about Kayla and he came home."

There was a silence on the end of the phone. As long as Bo had been away then things had been easy for the two of them… or easier. With him out the scene, they could get on with their lives with the kids and there wasn't any more added complications.

But those days were over. "I need to have a serious chat with Ciara about her daddy and I think it is best if the two of us have that chat on our own."

"Ok… I think that is for the best as well."

"The four of us can get together at the weekend. I think we are all going to be ready for a bit of fun by then," she said more brightly.

But she could hear how fake her tone was and she had no doubt Aiden knew well enough how faked it was as well.

Still… he was a sport.

"Sounds great," he had said just a little sadly as the two of them hung up the phone.

One phase of their relationship was definitely over.

Another more complicated one was beginning.

X x x

Ciara always enjoyed spending her evenings after school at the Brady pub. For one thing she got to over load on her grandmas cookies, for another she generally got to hang out with one or more members of her family.

The one she had not expected to see when she had got there was her cousin Joey. Normally, he was her constant companion when the two of them were at their grandmas but she knew he was staying with her other grandpa for now.

Her first question when she had seen her grandma that night was how her aunt was and she had been pleased to hear she was slowly recovering. Her mom had said she was doing better, but confirmation from two sources was always better than one. Though none of the adults had confirmed her suspicions about how bad it was, she knew from how pale and quiet they had all got that it was really had. Thankfully… already things seemed to be on the mend.

But that still left her with no one but her grandma and cousin Eric to hang out with while she waited for her mom to arrive. That was alright – she did her home work after she had had a glass of milk when she got in and then she had gone down to the kitchen to help with some baking. Her grandma had said something about doing some needle point practice once they had some cookies in the oven which sounded good to her. But half way through the baking her grandma had had to leave for what she had said was going to be just a moment… but when five minutes had passed with no sign of the return of her grandma, her natural Brady curiosity peaked.

She had been about to call out as soon as she left the kitchen to see where her grandma was but the voices in the bar attracted her.

There were a few people there having their own dinner and Eric serving. As soon as he saw her he came to the door, he approached though. Too quickly…

"Hey Ciara, how about we go through to the back and you can tell me all about your day at school?"

The way he said it was too hurried. As if he was trying to hide something.

"No… I want grandma," she said as she dodged him and walked past the bar.

She could see her grandma trying to shoo two people out of the bar but then Ciara felt her throat go dry as she realised just who one of them was…

"Daddy?"

 _Please review._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Caroline had not wanted to keep her son away from his daughter. That was the last thing in the world which she wanted to do. The two of them had been apart for so long already. But she did think that this was something which Hope should be supervising. So much water had gone under the bridge for all of them.

When Bo had come in that night, he had been the only thing on her mind. He had been gone for so long and he was her son… For just a moment, she had forgotten she had Ciara at the pub at all. She had just been so happy to have _him_ there.

But when she had come to her senses… well, she had wanted to do things for the best.

Now, as that little voice called out to Bo, she knew she was not going to get a chance too.

Kimberly stepped forwards and put a hand on brother's arm as all three of them looked to the source of the noise. She was aware he had to take this slowly. But they were Brady's and they were passionate… and their hearts ruled their head.

"Little one…. Oh baby…"

Ciara looked as if she had no idea what she wanted to just then.

She had imagined this scene so many times, with her running into her daddy's arms and him being so happy to see her.

And he was. And she wanted too. But at the same time she felt as if she was just stuck where she was and as if her feet were too heavy to move.

And then there was a question in her head: why now? And then another: who cares?

Suddenly her feet were on longer routed to the ground. They weren't even on the ground and her daddy and picked her up. She remembered the way he smelt. The way he had been with her when she was a little girl.

But… She did not feel as if she was a little girl any more. After all she was going to be going middle school in the fall and she had gone away to camp.

But this was her daddy. And all she wanted to do was shut her eyes and turn back the clock.

But she couldn't.

Her father's voice seemed as if it was a very far away.

He was asking how she was doing but she could not answer.

It was all too much. It was all far too much. She struggled down and out of his arms.

For so long all she wanted was to see him and now he was here she just did not know what to do with that.

"Ciara, honey," another voice said and she knew that voice. That was a voice she knew very well. She turned and ran towards it.

"Mommy!"

X x x

"Its ok, I am here, I am right here with you," soothed Hope as her little girl run into her arms. She should have known this was a possibility. Sending her daughter to the Brady pub that day afterschool had not been her smartest idea.

She had simply been so set on avoiding Aidan when she was dealing with her feelings that she hadn't even considered Ciara bumping into her dad here. Which should have been at the very front of her mind.

Walking into the pub to see Ciara in her dad's arms had been a dream of hers before she had moved on to her new life. Before she had done one of the few things that had hurt her more than anything else she had ever had to do and divorce Bo.

Now… now this was not a dream. Too much time had passed for a happy reunion and that was written all over Ciara's face.

Her daughter had never been sheltered enough, she thought to herself. And she had found out what the real world was life far too soon. But she was just a child. And that was obvious just then. She had so many emotions coursing round her and she had no idea what to do with all these feelings. They were terrifying her.

And so for the first time, perhaps ever, she had frozen till her mother had got to her.

She was glad she could be her little girl's safety, even if she should not have to be.

Not from him.

"Hope, I am so sorry," Caroline said. "It just all happened so fast I did not get the chance too…."

"I know," she said as she held on to her daughter and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

As strange as it was, she felt so sorry for Bo as her eyes crossed to him… he just looked as if he was crushed.

He had been gone… and he had been gone for so long that she knew she had a god case for arguing he did not care about his daughter at all. But his expression in that moment said it wall.

That was not even nearly the case. He cared very much.

And the fact that their reunion had seemed to scare Ciara in to some sort of silence broke Bo's heart.

"Little one… I did not meant to go to too fast for you there. It is just daddy missed you so much." Bo said as Ciara peaked out from Hopes arm.

"Wanna go home," she said as she looked up at her mother. "I want to go home, mom!"

"Ok, ok honey we can go home." Eric passed her daughters school bag over the bar. "Thanks for watching her Caroline."

Her mother in law nodded but all of them were too saddened by how the situation had worked out for any words.

"I – Ciara, honey –" Bo tried to add.

Hope shook her head. "Not tonight Bo, ok? We can may be sort something out later in the week. But not now. Ciara, say good bye to your grandma."

The little girl did as she was told and was then swept out of the pub by her mother.

Bo thought back to the way he had felt that morning when he had seen Hope in the arms of another man. It had hurt, but it had been bearable.

He could almost understand her wanting to move on.

When he thought about it, he could understand the way his daughter had reacted too him as well. He got it. He had left her and then he had simply walked back into the pub and her life as if he had just gone to do a shift at work and then come back home again.

But that logic did nothing for the ache in his heart and his soul. He was meant to be the one who kept Ciara Alice Brady safe, he was meant to be her protector.

The fact he had done this too her… that, he was never ever going to be able to forgive himself for.

"She is going to come round, baby brother, you'll see," said Kimberly as she put her arms about him.

But just then, it seemed to him as if his sisters words were not worth a damn thing…

Not when his baby girl was so mad…. And afraid.

X x x

"You let me grieve. For three years. Any one of those roughly thousand days you could have rang me and told me my brother was alive. But you didn't!"

Adrienne did not know what she was more upset about. The lie, the fact she was furious with _Steve_ or the fact she had just got him back, and now she had to be angry with him.

"I know it was a lousy thing to do baby, but we were on a mission and – it was no good, you know how often we were allowed to be in contact with all of you."

"No. I do not know how often you were able to phone me – only that you didn't!" she said as she put her head in her hands.

God knows she loved Steve and Jack but – but sometimes she wished they were simpler men.

The two of them could not do anything right. Not even dying.

"Did you know when we were scattering his ashes that they – well, weren't his ashes?" she asked.

Because if he had stood there with her and held her while she had cried for their brother she really did not think she was going to be able to see past that.

Thankfully for Steve, he shook his head.

"It was after that – a few months. I was on a case on my own for a bit and then I got pulled on to the DiMera one with Shane." He could recall how angry he had been when he had got back from Africa – where he had just broken up his home – only to be told by his former brother in law that things were not quite as ready to go with the get DiMera plan as he had hoped. "He told me there were reasons why I had to be on it, not that I needed a lot of convincing. It was a few weeks after that we went in on a raid and found Jack."

"And you never thought to tell me? To ring Jen and the kids and tell them their husband and daddy was ok?"

"I thought about doing it about a million times a day, baby. But I couldn't." his voice was so much quieter than hers right then that she could only assume the tone was sincerity.

She shook her head. "I am never going to understand why you couldn't tell me."

"I know… but we had to protect you. And Jack being dead – well, it gave him a kind of anonymity."

"I'll say," she bite. "When am I going to get to see him?" That was what she wanted to focus on now.

The good that was going to come out of this mess.

"Soon. I promise, soon. He is on his way home, him and Shane. I do not know if they are already on their way but if they are no then it won't be long."

That was a small comfort. A very small comfort.

"I – I get why you waited today to tell me. I know you have to focus on the kids and on Kayla at the moment…. But you are my brother and I hate that you kept this from me. I hate it, Steve!"

He nodded. He knew that, he heard it in her voice. He only hoped she did not hate _him_.

"I want to be on my own for a bit."

That he could respect. "Ok, well I have to go say night to Kayla so I will see you in a little bit." He said as he picked up the jacket he had discarded earlier on in the day. "But I want you to listen to one more thing Adrienne. I did what I did because I love you. I love you and I love Jack. And I know it may not seem like it right now, but I was just trying to protect you. To keep you all safe." That was all he had ever wanted to do.

The looked which she threw at him to begin with said that excuse was cutting absolutely no slack for him with her – but before he had so much as left the room it softened.

Because if nothing else that did ring true to Steve's past behaviour. He had always been a protector. The majority of the time he had been her protector specifically. And if he had thought there was a real danger to any of them knowing then of course he was going to keep it to himself.

When he had to be, he was good with secrets.

But that did not take away from the fact she had spent years and years missing her brother and grieving for him.

Steve could have stopped that and he didn't. And she just was not sure if she could forgive him for that.

X x x

Joey and Stephanie took the news about Jack much better than their aunt did. He had never really been a part of their lives and it was not as if this was the first time this had happened in their family…

Once he had given the two of them a kiss on the top of their heads and said goodnight, he made his way back to the hospital.

He had barely been back twenty four hours, and this was his third trip…

But then he had never been able to stay away from his sweetness. Not for long… until the last three years.

When he got back to her, he saw Kayla was dozing. She had had a busy day no doubt between him and the kids and her others visitors.

But a smile crossed her face when she saw him.

He could not be a little sorry to have disturbed her as she rubbed her eyes and sat up. She needed her rest.

'You must be getting sick of me.' He signed.

'Not yet.'

He gave a small smile.

'I hope we did not tire you out.'

Kayla grinned. 'A little bit, but it was worth it. Have you had any rest since you got back?"

Steve laughed. 'Don't you worry about me. I am all good.'

She nodded and thought so was she now he was here. Seeing he had left a hand on the bed when he had sat down she reached out and took it in to her own.

She was not sure what it was between the two of them. She had never quite understood it. She had named it 'love' a million times, but it could also be called trust or security.

All she knew was he made her… whole in ways no one else did.

Squeezing the hand which was now in his own, Steve placed a kiss against the back of hers. She did not think he was any ones idea of a convention prince charming…

But he was hers.

'You need to rest,' she signed again.

'I am all good, sweetness. But I do need to ask you a question…'

She nodded for him to do so.

He was done with the family reunions for that day. As nice as it had been to be with everyone, he had business here as well.

And seeing the mother of his kids lying on a hospital bed battered and bruised reminded him of that.

'Can you tell me how this happened?'

Kayla looked panicked for a moment and so he gently traced her knuckles with his thumb in a manner which he could only was reassuring.

She took a moment to consider before shaking her head. 'Not tonight.'

He nodded. He knew he had to accept that. A lot had gone on with her that day and if she was not strong enough to get into it right then he was not going to make her. He had no right.

He reassured himself that they were going to get to the bottom off this. And he was going to get his hands on the scum who had put Kayla here. She may have been the one who was driving the car but he knew there was something much bigger at play.

'Ok, sweetness. That's fine. You take it easy…. Take your time.'

He wished he had not mentioned it at all when he noted how stressed she was by it all.

Reaching up, he stroked her hair. It was an old habit, one he had developed as a way of comforting her when the two of them had been so much younger.

It was beginning to feel too easy to fall into all their old ways….

'Sweetness, is this ok with you?' he signed.

She nodded. This was exactly what she wanted. This was all she had wanted ever since she had left Africa. The two of them being them.

'Will you stay?'

He nodded. He was going to stay for as long as she would have him. For as long as the kids needed him.

He only hope that the answer to both of those was forever.

X x x

"I am going to catch an early night, bro," said Stephanie as she popped her head round her brother's door.

Joey paused the video game he had been playing as she came in and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Sounds as if that is a good idea." He nodded. He had been thinking along the same lines if he was honest.

"It has been – quite the day."

"I am so glad pop is home," Joey admitted, not that he had too.

Steph nodded. She had known that from the way that he had greeted their father home.

"So am I. We all need him right now and – and I missed him."

"Do you think he is going to stay around?" Joey asked.

"Well – I do not think we have to worry about him going anywhere as long as mom is the way she is."

There was a pause between them for just a moment….

"You don't think they –"

"He has been home a day baby brother. None of us should run before we can walk."

Joey nodded. He knew that. Deep down, he did.

"It just - it kinda seems like one of those days when anything is possible."

Stephanie nodded. She got that. "I can't believe that Uncle Jack is alive…. Only I can totally believe it because we Johnsons do not seem to be very good at staying dead even when we do die."

The two of them laughed even though it was no laughing matter. For years and years when she had been a little girl she had thought she was never ever going to get a chance to know her dad.

And if that had stayed the case then she never would have got her baby brother either.

All of them would have missed out on so much.

"I do not think JJ is going to take the news very well," Joey pointed out.

He was close to his big cousin…. JJ had been his big brother while Stephanie had been gone, the elder sibling who did look out for him. It was as if he had appointed himself his guardian and he was not sure why, not that Joey had thought that deeply about it. They were cousins… but he had never really explained…. he knew there was a reason his cousin seemed to hate his dad, a reason Joey had never been told.

"We can cross that bridge when Uncle Jack makes it home," Stephanie shrugged.

There was nothing either of them could do about it that night. In fact the only thing which they could do that evening was catch a good night sleep.

If their mom was with them right then she would tell them not to borrow trouble before they found it.

And so she wouldn't.

"Night, baby bro," Stephanie said as she kissed her brothers forehead. As she reached out to mush up his hair as an affectionate parting, Joey moved out of her reach with a scowl.

Laughing, the young women left the room. Maybe things were a way from normal still… but the universe was getting back on an equal footing somehow.

Either that, or there was a new normal for the Johnson family.

One they had not quite worked out yet.

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	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Even with a protective arm draped about Kayla, it took Steve a while to calm down enough to go to sleep that night.

A lot… a lot had happened over the past week. When he thought back to where he had been seven days ago, out in the wilderness with his band of brothers with no reason to think he was going to get back to Salem any time soon…

Well, all he knew was this was much better. For him, anyway, even with the sad circumstances of his return…

He ran a hand gently through Kayla's hair as she moaned out a little. He did not know and could not know what was going on in her dreams but they weren't good. Once again he found his mind whirling to compare her condition this time to the last time she had lost her hearing.

She had moaned out in her sleep then too. He remembered because that was the only time in those few months that he had got to hear her voice. It had been totally unconscious. As angry as he had been that she was having nightmares, it had been a comfort to hear her and to know what Mike and Marcus was saying was true. She was going to get her voice back.

He told himself she would this time too.

"It's all going to be ok. You'll be fine. We're all going to be good," he murmured.

It was all so pointless when she couldn't hear the words.

But if he could back up those words with actions, if he could make it ok for her… that would be the best thing.

The first thing which he knew he had to do was sort out some permanent digs for himself. As much as he would love more time with his sister, there was no way in hell he was going to stay at the Kiriakis mansion for logger than he had too. Nor was he was going to allow his kids too either.

He had had too much experience with Victor Kiriakis in the past to wish to intrude on his hospitality for longer than he had too. Besides… he wasn't sure if he and Adrienne wanting to spend time together was a two way thing right then.

A little space might do her some good.

He had a little money from the jobs he had been doing, the ISA paid fairly well and he was sure he could get somewhere half way decent for him and the kids till Kayla went home.

He would get on that tomorrow he promised himself.

He had just been allowing his eyes to shut and sleep to wash over him, when he heard the door open. He knew that the doctors had to do their checks but he could not help be annoyed.

He did not want anyone to be prodding and poking at Kayla in the middle of the night.

They had to let her rest if she was going to regain her strength and by so doing, her health.

He rolled over.

"She is trying to get a little sleep," he said as he noted how groggy his own voice was.

"I know that, which is why I am throwing you out of here. She need rest."

Steve looked at the doctor. Ha seemed familiar and it took him a minute to place him – but then he did.

 _Jonas._

In the past the two of them had always got on. He seemed as if he was a good doctor but Steve felt himself getting wound up just at the thought of him trying to get him to leave.

"She wanted me to stay."

That was the bottom line for Steve.

"Well, as I am sure Doctor _Brady_ would tell you if she was up to it, it is not practice for relations of our patients to stay overnight with them.,"

And that was all it took for him to be on Steve's list.

He was not sure if it was the uppity way he spoke to him or the way that he emphasis he placed on her last name as if to point to the fact she was no longer his wife.

It did not matter.

But Steve did not like the dude. Not one bit.

He nodded. He was not going to make a scene and he was not going to give this guy the pleasure of seeing that. He was not leaving so calmly for him though. Steve realised him kicking off was the last thing Kayla needed.

So instead, he slid off of the bed before leaning back over to kiss her good night.

He would be back in the morning he reminded himself. He was going to get a chance to explain this to her.

"Night sweetness," he sighed as he kissed her.

Leaving was against every instinct which he had.

He turned back to the doctor. There had been a time he remembered when the wishes of the patients in the hospital mattered. Perhaps he had just been following protocol. But personally, Steve had never set a lot of store by protocol.

Still, at least he had the measure of Jonas…

X x x

Saturday morning did bring a lie in for Adrienne.

She had not released how much that week had hit her until she woke up and for the first time just wanted to pull the covers over her head.

Jack was alive. This was good news.

She should be celebrating. But there was so much going on that it had got confused with and she soon realised that was the best way to describe what she was feeling.

Confused.

Rolling over the bed, she sought unconsciously the warm body of her husband. Justin wrapping his arms about her would be most welcomed. For the two of them to just start the weekend quietly together… that would be very nice.

But she could just keep rolling she found because despite it being a weekend… there was no one in the bed beside her.

She had been able to act as if she had known her husband had early meetings earlier in the week. She had even fooled herself.

But suddenly it was not that easy.

She lay back in the bed and sighed. That day was going to be like every other weekend for the past year… unless she changed it.

Grabbing her phone off the bed side table, she scrolled down her contacts, past 'J' to 'L' and lingered over the number of Lucas Horton…

X x x

"Oh my gosh! I heard you were back!"

"In the flesh too. I wondered if my sister in law could spare me a cup of coffee."

"Of course I can, it is great to see you!" said Jen as she stepped back and let Steve into the Horton homestead. "How are you?"

"I - I am doing good, better now I am home," he admitted as she escorted him through to the living room.

"I bet you are. Have you seen Kayla?"

He nodded. "I spent some time with her yesterday."

"I guess I have to admit to knowing that. Adrienne rang and said you were up there, so I stayed away. I am going into work this afternoon though so I am going to pop in and see her then."

"Good – I mean, she really needs all of us pulling for her at the moment."

"She has us."

"That's good," he said with a smile. "So how are you?"

"Me? I am fine," she nodded. "Let me grab you that coffee, then we can catch up."

He nodded gratefully, wondering how on earth he was going to explain all this too her. He wondered lightly if she was going to take this better or worse than Adrienne. From what he had heard from his brother, Jack and Jennifer had just got back on an even footing when disaster had struck the two of them down again.

With his sister in law out of the room he had a chance to look at the mantel peace. It had been so long since he had seen JJ that he doubted he would have recognized him if Adrienne had not shown him the wedding pictures the day before.

From what he guessed to be the most recent photo of his niece, he knew he would have known Abi even though it had been a few years since the two of them had seen one another as well.

He remembered the way she had clung to him when they thought were spreading Jack's ashes.

 _Poor baby girl…_

His eyes scanned over the photo of Mr and Mrs Horton and a smile appeared on his lips. He had had a lot of time for Tom and Alice. The way they had had time for all of them.

Finally, there was a picture of his brother and Jennifer looked in one another's embrace.

He smiled grimly at it for a moment before he heard someone behind him.

It was too soon to be Jennifer back with the coffee.

"Uncle Steve?" JJ asked.

"How many other dudes you know who would rock up here with an eye patch?" he asked.

"Well… like, none," He said as he stuck out his hand as a greeting.

Steve smiled. His nephew was a young man and no boy. Jack was going to be proud.

"You are back for Aunt Kayla right? She really need you right now."

She needed all of them.

JJ knew he had not been up at the hospital half as much as he should have since the accident. He knew much like his mother and his sister had practically been up at the hospital every day.

Like he should have been.

He had seen his aunt twice and asides that he had said he did not want to go too much as he did not want to tire her out. The truth was he had just not summoned up the courage like the rest of the family. Yet now he felt as if he had been the one who had not stepped up to the mark when he had needed too.

He loved his Aunt Kayla. A lot, just like Abby did. And there was just something so unnatural about seeing her in pain.

He couldn't stand it.

"Yeah, I am going to be around for her now. And the kids too. I should have been here sooner."

Well, JJ was bit going to argue with that.

"You're here now, I guess –"

"Who is here?" another voice asked as a young women came into the Horton living room.

Abigail's face split into a smile as she saw her uncle. "Steph said you were home!"

In spite of the fact the two of them had had relatively little time together since she had been born, Abigail found that despite her uncle's appearance it was easy to feel close to him. He had the appearance of an old fighting dog, but that was all. She knew he was a teddy bear deep down and that belief was solidified as they embraced.

"How you doing, baby?"

"Good, I am doing really well. It is so good to see you!"

"You as well," he said as he drew back. "Well, look at the two of you all grown up. Last time I saw you, you were just little kiddies."

"Probably a sign you have been away too long." The words were out of JJs mouth before he could stop them.

Steve nodded as he looked as his nephew. He was obviously going to be a tougher nut to crack than his sister but in no way did he blame him.

Considering everything he had done to all of them, his family immediate and extended, he had been given a very warm welcome.

For now. All that could change he thought as Jen returned with the coffee.

"Well, as thrilled as we are to have you here, is there a particular reason for your visit this bright Saturday morning? It is not even ten yet," Jen laughed unsuspectingly.

"Umm… yeah, actually there is. Why don't we four sit down? There is something I need to tell you guys. All of you."

X x x

Adrienne spent the morning at the hospital that day.

Lucas had said he was going to be about later in the day and she had caught her brother just as he had been leaving the house.

"I am going over to see Jen and the kids," he had explained to her sheepishly.

She could only reply that she had thought that was a good idea, even if she knew it was going to be a lot for them to take in.

It had been for her.

Adrienne tried as best she could though to leave her own annoyance at the door of the hospital. She could pick it up on the way back out and she knew the last thing which Kayla needed was any more stress.

Unfortunately though, that was just what she seemed to have when she went through to her.

As soon as she saw Adrienne, Kayla was scribbling on the note pad which had been left by her side.

 _Where is Steve?_

Adrienne sighed. The two of them could not be having problems already when he had only just got back. But if the two of them were, then she was really going to kill him this time.

 _He has gone to see Jennifer, Abby and JJ. He said he was going to be in later on,_ Adrienne wrote.

That seemed to calm her a little but Kayla still looked stressed, running a hand threw her hair as she sighed.

Adrienne knew she had had enough of all of this already. She just wanted to go home and be with her kids and out of the hospital bed.

But as it was they all had a long road to walk with her. And they were only just at the start of it.

X x x

By the time Steve got to the hospital, in all truth he felt as if he had done a day's works… telling Jen and the kids Jack was alive when they had believed him to be dead for the umpteenth time had not been an easy gig.

They had all reacted in very different ways, Jen going into a stunned silence and Abby crying with joy because she was so happy. Steve was not sure why it was then JJ's almost non reaction of silence which bothered him the most but it was.

There was more to that, he mused as he made his way to Kayla's room. That was why. He was going to have to look into it.

Not only had he had that to deal with but then with finding a place. That task had been a little easier than he thought it would be. For once fate had been a little kinder to his family. An apartment had, by chance, become available in Kayla's block, on her very floor no less.

He did not even have to view it. Taking the apartment was a no brainer. If it was near Kayla and Joey then as far as he was concerned it was perfect. Even if it was a mess, which it was unlikely to be, then it was hardly likely to worst place he had ever slept in…

Checking the time as he went into see Kayla, he was saw it had just gone one.

He was not the only visitor she had.

His sister was still there, which he thought was a pity as he had wanted to give her a little space. It was not that he feared her reaction to him. There was nothing cowardly about it. But he was aware she needed a little time too cool off so he had tried to stay out her way.

But now she looked as if she was relieved to see him and just one look at Kayla told him why. He could feel the agitation rolling off of her in waves.

She was a tough lady. But she had been through a lot lately.

And she could not hide from him.

"Hey sweetness," he said as he signed, with a smile which did not quite reach his eyes.

Kayla regarded him with suspicion however, for the first time since he had come home. And it hurt…

"Do you know what this is about?" Adrienne asked. "She has not been herself all morning."

Steve nodded. He could take a guess.

"She has been asking for you Steve."

"Ok baby," he sighed as he sat down by Kayla's side. 'I am so sorry I was not here when you woke up,' he signed. 'I got kicked out the hospital last night.'

He had kept his cool when it had been happening too but now he wished he had fought to stay with her.

He heard his sister sigh sadly but could tell she believed him. Kayla too, but his explanation did not close the distance between them.

It was going to take her time to settle back down.

When he had not been there when she had woken up… for a split second she had not known if he was coming back. There was a time when she would never have had to question it. But now that time had passed. It was a stark reminder that he was not the man she knew she could rely on no matter what.

Try as she might to fool herself otherwise, he hadn't been that man for a while now.

X x x

Chase and Ciara sat down to watch a film together pretty quietly that Saturday evening. It was bizarre for the two children to be sat so silently, thought the father of the young boy as he watched them. They were friends… they were close. He had often begun to think of them as close as well… brother and sister. Normally they chatted and laughed as if they would never get a chance to again.

But ever since they had got the news Bo Brady was back in town everything had changed.

Ciara had gone silent, and Chase was just not sure how to act.

The return had had a big effect on all of them.

And when they had just begun to be happy, selfishly... Aidan hated that.

"Is there anything I can do to help you get dinner ready?" he asked Hope.

"I am literally just putting pizzas in the oven. Even I can do that," she said with a smile.

"Well then why don't I pour the two of us a glass of wine?"

Normally, Hope was sure she would have said yes. But that day she shook her head. "I want to keep a clear head for when Ciara is ready to start talking."

Whatever she was going through. she knew her daughter was going through something worse. She had to be there for her.

"A lemonade then?" he offered.

She nodded. "That'd be nice."

"I wish there was something which I could do for you both."

He hated to see them so hurt. He knew they had been hurt by Bo for a long time… but this was worst.

"I know you do. And I love you for that. But there really is not any thing anyone can do. We just have to work through this and see what Ciara wants to do when she is ready."

He nodded.

"Though… there might be one thing which you can do for me saying that." She said to him with a sigh.

"Name it."

"Get in touch with Grayson."

It was then Aidan sighed. "I have already tried to call him a few times today and I have left messages… I am sure he is going to get back to us as soon he can."

Perhaps it was simply the pressure of the last few days but Hope felt her blood boil. This was why the two of them had decided to leave work outside of their relationship she remembered. He was so relaxed…

"He is a good man. You met him, this is Grays-"

"No. You don't get it, this is not about him, this is about Kayla! He was the last person to see her before she got in that car." She reminded him though she was sure she needed no reminder. "I am going down to the hospital on Monday morning and I am going to talk to Kayla and I swear to god if that man lay a single hand on her… I swear to god, Aidan, I'll -"

The only thing that cut her off short was the appearance of her young daughter at the door.

"Honey, are you ok?" she asked as Ciara came into the kitchen and put her arms about her.

No, she was not ok. But Hope swore that one way or another she was going to be.

Looking at Aidan, she knew of late a great deal many people had been hurt than just Kayla, but they were the adults. The two of them had to deal with it because they could… and make it better for those who couldn't…

In any way which they could.

X x x

Steve was frustrated by the time he got back to the Kiriakis mansion. His visit with Kayla had not been as the previous ones were and for the first time he had to admit to himself that he had felt the distance which was between them.

And not because of her hearing problems. That had never been a barrier to them, not for very long anyway,

Ever since he had got back, she had let him be a husband to her. She had let him hold her and comfort her as he had used to when they had been together.

But now all that had stopped and if it did not come back then he was not sure what he was going to do.

Except kill Jonas maybe.

Still, that was going to have to wait. First he had to deal with the housing situation.

As Kiriakis came out of his own living room, he remembered why.

"How is Kayla?"

Since he had returned he heard how Kiriakis was meant to have mellowed, but as Steve looked at Victor, all he could see was the old mob lord who had employed him to track Kayla. He was also the man who had held Kayla captive when she had been pregnant with Stephanie.

For one reason or another, he did not quite feel ready to discuss her condition with him. Or anything else for that matter.

"I want to thank you for letting the kids stay here with their aunt while I was gone. But I have got a new place now, so you won't have to put up with the three of us for much longer."

Victor grimaced. "You never did do grace, did you Johnson?"

"Not when it comes to thugs I don't," he said firmly.

He could marry a Horton and play the doting grandpa but he was not going to be pulling the wool over Steve's eyes.

Without another word to his host he headed upstairs.

"Stephanie? Joey?"

"In here Pop!" his son called from the room which he had been staying in.

Following his sons voice, Steve walked into the bedroom and found his daughter was there too. It did his heart good to see his two kids hanging out together. He knew they had not had a lot of time together and they… they should have that time together, he thought.

Especially now.

"You want some good news my beautiful babies?" he asked as he kissed their foreheads in turn.

His son beamed up at him. "Is mama getting better? Can she hear?"

It was only after he had said the words that Steve realised he had been a little too optimistic. He felt the pit of his stomach drop.

"No… no, baby boy I am sorry, your mama is not better…. But I saw her this morning and she had a good night's sleep."

It was just the shock she got when she woke up that she had not like.

As soon as he said the words, he knew Stephanie read through the lines and he had no doubt that was going to come back to haunt him.

"Oh," Joey said with a sigh. Stephanie plastered a smile on her face as she tried to keep her brother's spirits up.

"So what is your news papa?"

"I have managed to get an apartment in the same block as yours mamas, so when she comes home I am going to be close by to help you out. And until then the three of us can move in there, and get out of the hair of the Kiriakis'."

Joey nodded slowly as he took in the news.

Whether it was having his original hopes dashed or not, Steve could not help but be a little hurt - not even that seemed to get Joey smiling again.

"That's great papa," Steph said but Steve shook his head. No… no, by Joey's estimation it was not.

"What about you, little peanut? What do you think?"

Joey shrugged. He did not want to case problems when he had just got his dad back but he had asked him for his opinion…

"I want to go home. Properly home, dad."

As the words sunk in, Steve nodded. Deep down, he guessed he had known that….

"I know… I know you do, buddy."

X x x

"The wind might change direction, baby brother. It won't do any good for your face to get stuck that long," said Kimberly from where she stood behind the bar. As for Bo he had not left the front of it practically all morning and now it was getting on in the afternoon…

By rights after the amount of coffee he had drunk, he should be buzzing.

But he was not and it did not take a genius to work out why.

"Kim, she was terrified of me. Her own daddy… and she was terrified of me."

Kim smiled grimly. She was sure after all she had had to endure in her life, she was more than qualified to speak for those who had been terrified… and that was not what Ciara had been. She had been confused and sad.

"She loves you. You coming back like that… it was just a lot for her to take in."

But she doubted that changed a lot for her little brother just then. Ciara was his little girl, the daughter he had known about since birth and the child of consolation after Hope and he had lost Zach so tragically…

"I love her…. I love her so much, Kimber."

"Oh, I know little brother. I know. You just have to be strong for her right now. Keep the faith, she'll come around. You just have to hang around to make sure she does."

"I am not leaving her," said Bo fiercely. He was never going to make that mistake again.

"I know you're not… I know." She said softly as she looked at him. They were just at the beginning of a very long tough road.

And they had to square with that. Or at least… he did.

Kim opened her mouth to offer some more words of comfort, not knowing how much good they were going to be to her dissolute brother when the phone in her pocket rang. As soon as she saw the private number come up on the Caller ID, she knew she had to take it.

Her brother nodded as she answered the call, nerves in the pit of her stomach. Until she heard that voice she was not going to…

"Hello?"

"Kimberly?"

"Oh my lord, Shane – it is so good to hear your voice," she said as she felt the familiar love filled her heart. It did not matter if it was his voice at the end of a phone or the touch of his hand.

It was just Shane Donovan really. That was the effect he had on her.

"Not as nearly as good as it is to hear yours, honey, I assure you of that," she heard him say. The sincerity in his voice was as earnest as always.

"Where are you?"

"Well, you know I cannot give you the exact location but I can tell you that I am at an airport in Europe. In a few hours, Jack and I are going to be Salem bound."

"Oh, that is music to my ears."

"I can't wait to hold you in my arms."

As Kim thought of the state that there family had got in to of late, Kim was pretty sure she couldn't stand not being in them much longer either. She thought of their little girl who was struggling on the cusp of motherhood, with her own little son. She thought of her little sister who was going through just too much all together.

"I can't wait to be there," she said as she tried to disguise the break in her voice with a cough. "Just hurry now ok? Hurry home, my love."

"That is what we are doing. I can promise you that."

 _Please review_!


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Hey Kay," said Hope softly as she and another police officer walked into the hospital room where the women who would always be her sister-in-law one way or another lay.

Hope could not help think that it was only Bo who she ever divorced. She was never going to let go of his family or the bonds she had with them.

Kayla looked pretty fresh that day in comparison to how she had appeared the week before and Hope kept her fingers crossed that Kay had managed to get a good night's sleep. Predictably however, Kayla still looked a long way from rested or relaxed.

She was not going to be able to do that until she got home and was with her kids again.

"Can you translate for us?" she said as she turned to the police officer.

The whole point of bringing her co-worker was so that she could sign.

Her colleague nodded. Kayla soon returned Hope's greeting.

"How are you feeling?"

'Not so bad. A little stronger every day.' Kayla signed. 'If I am honest all I want to do is go home. I don't feel as if I am going to get too much better here.'

"Well, none of us can wait for you to get home,' Hope smiled. "It must be nice to have Stephanie around."

'It is. And Bo too,' Kayla said.

She had not meant for it to come out so pointedly but she knew it would.

Hope nodded. She was not going to be annoyed because she knew it had to be good for Kayla. She loved her brother. The two of them were close. Bo being back _was_ a good thing.

"I'm glad." She said as she settled by her side and took a deep breathe. She knew there was going to be no point in beating about the bush here. "Kayla, I know this is going to be hard for you to do but I need to talk to you about the accident."

Hope saw Kayla swallow and then compose herself. She was right - this was not going to be easy.

But her sister in law knew a little something about hard situations.

'You do not have to rush, you can take your time ok, Kay?"

The women in the hospital bed nodded.

"In your own time… just tell me what happened…"

'I – I just ran off the road. You know the high ways. There was a squirrel in the road. I swerved,' she said with a shrug. 'I know it sounds silly. But that's it.'

"A squirrel? Kay –" Hope sighed. This may account for the accident…. But it did not feel like it. This was a lie. A pretty bad lie, from a terrible liar.

There had to be.

"Why were you even in the car? We were meant to be going out all three of us that night, do you remember?… you, me, Aidan and Grayson, do you reme –"

It was as she mentioned the lawyer who Kayla had been dating that she saw her look away from the police officer who had been signing to her.

Kayla always faced things head on – she did not go running scared.

But Hope had known there was something wrong and she did not need Kayla to say or sign anything to know that on some levels Grayson was at the cause of it.

The police officer looked at Hope as if she was unsure what to do.

Reaching out, Hope took her friends hand in her own.

"Kayla, I know this is really hard on you… but if you tell me what happened then we are going to be able to get to the bottom of it."

Still Kayla was not looking though.

Hope could not remember the last time she had seen her hide this way.

"Ohh, Kay," the detective said as she saw tears begin to fall down Kayla's face.

Even through all the pain of the last week she did not think she had seen Kayla cry like this, tears falling quickly one after the other. Hope had only wanted to figure out what had gone on – she had not meant to upset her. But now she could see she had been pushing too fast.

Rubbing her thumb across the hand she was holding, Hope was somewhat comforted to feel Kayla grab on to it – not so much that Hope got the sense that it was a life line for her but enough to let her know that she understood she was there for her.

And she was just trying to do her job. And that she loved her.

But still she would not communicate and it continued to be obvious that she was afraid of something.

That was when the door opened.

"Sweet thing, how you doing?"

It had been far too many years since Hope had heard that voice. she and Steve had always been close, ever since they were - well, looking back on it just a couple of kids.

He had been the big brother she had needed. More than once.

And she was so glad he was then right there. It was clear they were not going to get anywhere with finding out what had gone on. Kayla wasn't ready.

By the time she had turned to face Steve though, she had already lost his attention.

"What's going on, why is she upset?" Steve demanded to know as he dropped a bag of food and magazines from Stephanie he had brought in for Kayla and went to her side.

"Hey sweetness…. Baby its ok… it's all ok…"

As soon as Kayla saw Steve, she had dropped Hope's hand and sat back on the bed making room for him to sit sat her side.

Then when he was finally there she wrapped her arms about him and was relieved when he did the same.

With his arms about her…. Nothing could go wrong. That was what she had always told herself. He was her safe harbour and there were going to be no more questions and no more mentions of _that_ man. She wasn't sure if she still believed Steve was her safety just then… but he knew from his stance right then the questions would stop. He'd make them.

No matter what was going on between them then… right then, he was right where she needed him.

Kayla slowly felt her breathing return to somewhere near normal, as he brushed her hair with his fingers and no doubt said words of comfort to her which she just could not hear.

But Steve could still feel the panic in side of her. When he had first taken her in his arms he was sure she would have happily tried to hide inside of him if she had been given the option.

"It's ok, it is all ok," he said though he did not know if he was trying to calm her or himself.

He did not let go of Kayla's, rather only shifted his position so he could address Hope.

"What's happening?"

"I – I wanted to talk to her about the night of the crash. I guess it was still a little soon," Hope admitted.

She had given her time… but she had to question her.

"Yeah, I say it was," Steve said sharply before he wished he could bite his tongue off. It had been so long since he had seen Hope – he did not want to fight with her.

But if he had to fight to protect Kayla when she could not protect herself then that was just what he was going to do. Still he did not think he could really rail against Hope's motive.

"Do you have any leads? Any ideas at all?" he asked.

If the truth was known he too was desperate to know who had done this. He wanted to know so that he could make sure I never ever happened again.

He wanted to kill whoever had put Kayla here…

"One… but I am not getting fair with it. I have no real evidence and more than anything I am going off of a hunch. I wanted to talk to Kay to get a better idea but -"

But he could see how that had gone. Yet perhaps her reaction had told Hope all she needed to know….

She turned back to Kayla to see she did look calmer now. But she had no doubt she was not going to be up for communicating what happened.

"Hope… do you think she is any immediate danger? Is this like before, is there another Harper Deveraux running around out there trying to kill her?" asked Steve.

Hope grimaced at the unpleasant memories of the past which were naturally brought up by what was going on but finally shook her head.

"There is no reason to believe so."

"Well then can we drop this until she is a bit more ready to talk about it?"

Hope nodded. She knew she had to for two reasons. Once it was clear Kayla was not going to talk and secondly she was pretty sure Steve was not going to let this continue even as she wanted to.

Silence took the room for just a moment and Hope felt her bottom lip tremble a little – why she wasn't sure, but seeing the way her old friends were still clinging to their old bond…

It shook her in a way she had not thought it was going to.

Knowing it was all essentially she could do in that situation, Hope nodded. She was not going to be the one to push Kayla on.

"Sweetness," she heard Steve addressed Kayla as he gently turned her face to his so she could see him sign and speak to her. "Please try and relax. You don't have to talk about anything you are not ready to talk about. It's all ok… please don't worry."

Anxiety at this point could only serve to their detriment.

Kayla nodded that she understood and lay back a little. Hope gave a nod to the police officer at her side to wait for her outside.

This was no longer formal.

"Steve, I really wasn't trying to upset her – "

"I know that, sweet thing," he said as Kayla lay back. He knew it and it was as the two of them looked at each other a smile crept on to his face.

So much had gone on since he had been back already that he had had no time to catch up with hHope.

"Hi."

It was ridiculous to greet one another like this but here they were. Steve felt his heart go a little lighter as a smile crept on to Hopes face as well. They through so much together…. her smile was always a tonic to him.

"Hi – how are you?"

"I – I am good," Steve lied. The truth was he had no idea how he was so decided he may as well put a positive spin on it.

And, after all, he had to be ok. He had to be strong.

"And how are you?"

She shrugged. She could not get the right words to the tip of her tongue. She was mad and she was sad and she was so glad to see him.

Most of all – a lot like all of them she guessed – she was tired.

Steve nodded. The silence said it all.

"Have you seen Bo lately?"

"He dropped by the police station."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Come on, sweet thing. You are here talking to me like of old and Bo and I did practically the same thing. We both left."

"The difference being that you told Kayla you were not going to come home. And if you really want to be treated comparatively, then I can be pissed as hell at you too if you want."

Steve shook his head. That was not what he was after here. He had just wanted to plead his friend's case.

"I am not going to need you to do that."

"I didn't think so." Hope grimaced. "So where were you guys?"

"Well, you know – I cannot give you the exact location even now but we were trying to bring down DiMera."

"I take it that did not go so well?"

"It never does." Steve replied bitterly.

When he had been a little boy he had believed that the good guys were always the ones who triumphed in the end. Then he had started doing this funny thing living and he had found out that was not the case.

Why Brady couldn't have given me an almost sensible answer like that, mused Hope.

"The thing about a mission like the one we were on though… you know, if a man tries to do something for too long – dwells on it for too long… It becomes obsessive. Takes a lot to bring him back round from something like that. Because if you don't achieve the objective… what's the point?"

Hope was vaguely aware that Steve was trying to say something about Bo and the mistakes both Bo and himself had made over the past couple of years just then. As he finished, he turned to Kayla, and looked at her for a moment. Their eyes met and Hope was only vaguely aware that Kay was the first to break their eye contact.

"I should give you two sometime –" she realised. "Can you tell Kay I will see her later and that I am sorry?" she said as she crossed to kiss the top of her sister in law head.

'Kayla, Hope is going now. She said she was sorry for upsetting you.'

'She was just trying to do her job. I do understand it. She's good at her job…' Kayla signed…

"She knows Hope," Steve confirmed.

"Ok," she said with a nod as she turned to kiss his forehead. "Good. I want a catch up with you, Mister. As soon as we are both free, a proper catch up."

"At this rate I can pencil you in for 2018."

"Very funny, Johnson," Hope smirked but she knew the feeling.

"I will make it sooner than that, sweet thing."

"You better." Replied Hope as she headed out the door with a parting look to both Steve and Kayla before leaving them alone.

As soon as she did that, Steve turned back to Kayla to see she was once more on her guard. When they had a common cause, they were a team. But he knew they were a long way from any unity between them just then.

 _Please review!_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Kayla's upset when he had come into the room had allowed Steve a moment's reprieve from the awkwardness was between them. But no more. As soon as Hope was gone and it was just the two of them, it returned.

But Steve knew they could not allow it to feaster. It was not good for her and it was no good for the kids. It was just going to hinder all of them.

'Are you really ok?' he checked.

She nodded. 'I just – I have had enough. I want to go home.'

'I know…' he signed in return. 'The kids can't wait to have you home either.' _Neither can I_ …

He noted the way she was wringing her hands together before she rubbed the back of her neck.

'Sweetness,' he signed before he could stop himself. 'Do you need anything?'

She shook her head. 'Thank you…' she sighed after a few moments hesitation. 'For stopping Hope.'

'You're welcome. You don't have to do anything you don't want too. You don't have to talk to anyone or see anyone – it's all up to you.'

Kayla appreciated that, but what she had wanted a few nights ago was too wake up with him at her side. Deep down she knew the protocol was the reason he had gone… but the effect it had had was not so easily shaken off.

Steve had alwaysbeen and was full of good intentions. She knew that… but after the past few years, it was becoming harder to remember a time he had backed them up with action.

X x x

Salem International Airport was busy on any given day of the week. People came and they went and they left people they loved and they reunited with those they loved the very most too.

The red head hung around the arrivals area, running a nervous hand through her hair. She had known she was going to be here much too early – but she hadn't been able to contain her excitement.

She had wanted to leave to collection him as soon as she had got up. She had waited for about an hour…

Then she had left for the airport, unable to hold herself back any longer. She read a chapter of her book, grabbed a coffee and then just waited.

She had had to be good at that during their life together.

Then at long… long last _he_ walked through the door. Of course he came through with Jack Deveraux too but to Kimberly Brady that did not matter. All she was Shane Donovan.

Her Shane.

The two of them moved together at the same time though it honestly felt to Kim as if she flew to him.

"Oh lord I missed you so much!" she said as he took her in his arms. She wanted to kiss him, but just for then burying her face in his shoulder seems a better option. "It's so good to see you."

Being in love with Mr ISA never did get any easier. But she had cause to remember the good part of their life and his job.

The reunions.

"My darling… my darling Kimberly… oh honey…"

As normal, the two of them were utterly carless of the eyes which were watching them. Shane's hands ran up and down Kim's back as he reacquainted himself with her….

And she was so glad of it… but they were not alone.

PDA was just one of the things on a long list which made Jack uncomfortable but she found she just could not care less. Shane was home. And he was safe. He did not think she could imagine anything better.

"Come here," Shane sighed even as he held her. "Let me look at you."

But Kim was sure if the two of them could get a hood look at one another's faces then they were too far apart. She closed the distance between them and put her lips on his.

Jack left them to their love and their happy reunion for all of thirty seconds before he begun to whistling and rocking back and forth of his heals as he did so. He was glad for them but he was anxious to get to his own happy reunions…

If they were going to be any.

Initially, Shane and Kim took no notice of him, far too swept up each other. But in the end, Kim knew they could not get lost in their own world, not here and not yet. They had a lot to say first.

"It is good to see you, Jack," smiled Kim.

Not quite as good as two see Shane though evidently.

"You too."

"How was the flight?" _Just like the period they had been away, too long._

"Perfectly pleasant."

"That's good. Now how about we get this journey over and take the two of you back?"

Shane nodded. "That sounds as if it is a very good idea. And on the way you can tell me about this handsome grandson of ours," he said as kept an arm round his wife. It was going to take a lot for him to let go.

"Oh Tate is adorable, he really is," she confirmed his suspicions. When he had been on the way back she had been able to send him a couple of photos of the baby but he did not think anything could or would match up to the real thing.

"And you can tell me how Kayla is… please?" asked Jack.

They had had so little news since Bo and Steve had left that the only thing he was sure of was that the worse had not happened. If it had then they would have heard.

Kim nodded. She guessed before they got into the subject of little Tate, that was a good place to start.

"Well, she is out of danger and on the mend now. But she can't hear and she can't talk…"

"It all sounds too familiar for my liking," Shane sighed. He remembered the last time she had been in this state.

It had not been good.

"I know. We don't really know what even happened this time and that is the worse thing."

"From what we heard it was a car accident," Jack offered all the information which he had, trying not to think about the last time or the role he had played then…

"It was, but there is more to it than that," Kimberly sighed as she curled around Shane as they walked for a little comfort. "But she won't tell anyone, she doesn't want to talk about it at all."

There was a silence between them as they walked following Kim to the car.

"Well – we are going to get to the bottom of this one way or another," Shane promised as he kissed Kimberly's forehead.

That was what they did when they were all together. They sorted things out when they went wrong and they cracked codes and solved mysteries.

If this meant the two of them had to extend their stay in Salem then so be it.

They had to pull together and be a family.

Now more than ever.

X x x

'So I have got some news for you.'

'What's that?' Kayla signed in response.

Steve had hoped when he got to break this news to her there were going to be a few gentle touches and a little more hope for their future, as up until very recently he had allowed himself to hope there was going to be one. But he guessed he would just have to take what he could get…

'I have got an apartment.'

Kayla nodded as she digested the news. That was good.

That was him putting down roots. That was the kind of news she liked. But then the two of them having kids and being a family should have been the roots he had needed to stay with her…. She reminded herself there were no guarantees.

'It is right across the hall from yours. I hope that is ok.'

Once more she nodded.

'I think that is a good idea.' Already she had been worrying about the day when she went home. She was not sure how she was meant to care for Joey when the two of them were going to have, at best, sketchy means to communicate at best…

How was she meant to look after her son if she was not sure what he needed?

No as awkward as it could be, her son needed his father just across to hall. That was a good shout.

'Is there something else?'

Steve nodded. 'When I told Joey, I think he was happy I was going to be so close by but he is also really ready to head properly home. He wants to go back to his own room… so is it ok if I stay at yours with him? Just until you come home.'

She nodded before signing. 'I think that is a good idea too.'

She wanted her son to go home too. If Steve had to move in for just a little bit for that to happen then so be it.

'Thank you.'

Kayla shrugged. It was nothing to her – it was about the two of them doing what was best for their little boy.

'I hope he is ok.'

'Joe is doing well but I think he is going to be better when you gets home.'

She knew that already. The thing about their son was he was already too good at putting a mask on his real feelings. She remembered when Bo had first gone away, Ciara had no trouble talking to any one about how much she was missing her father and just how much she wanted him to come back into their lives. It had never been like that for Joey. He had mentioned his father in passing, or to beam with false pride about what a hero he was…. But at hardly other time.

Kayla was in no doubt that Joe loved his father dearly. When they had been in South Africa running the clinic, Joey had been his father's little shadow as soon as he could walk. If they could have done everything together, Joey would have been the happiest little guy in the world.

So when they had come back and the divorce had gone ahead, her son had been naturally bereft. She had seen a little sparkle vanish from his eyes…. But at a young age, even then… he had hide his feelings. Rarely had he asked for his father, as much as Kayla tried to get him to talk about it.

The fact was, Joey was entirely Steve's son, in the good ways and some of the not so great either.

Maybe a little time with his Pop would break down the barriers Kayla could not breach.

X x x

"Papa can I talk to you?" asked Stephanie as she went into the kitchen at the Kiriakis mansion that evening.

She had had a quiet day up until she had got back to the mansion. She had gone in to town to enjoy the luxury of some peace and quiet and got her nails done. She had then indulged in a little retail therapy before winging by the hospital and seeing her mom.

It had been there she had learnt her kid brother was getting his wish and was going home. Properly home.

Which was good for Joey but she was also aware it could be confusing.

"You, my baby girl, can talk to me about anything. Shoot." Her papa said with a smile.

She was aware of how tired he looked, but knew she had to say what she did.

"It is about you moving into mamas."

"Yeah, I was thinking we would go back tomorrow night, after your brother gets back from school." Steve said clearly excited.

She smiled nervously…. For all the fact she was glad he was back they had to be realistic.

"That's awesome but… you – papa, you have to be straight with Joey, you know that right?"

"I don't understand."

"I don't want him getting the wrong impression –" she said defensively.

"Meaning what?" her father asked and she knew from the tone in his voice he was being genuine. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"I do not want him thinking this is the start of you and mom getting back together."

 _Ahh, so that is where you have been going with this, little sweetness…._

Steve was not sure how to respond to that. He could see his daughters logic... there was no reason to think that they were going to get back together. He had been gone for so long and her mother was in such a bad situation that it was hard to see how Kayla could possibly think with a clear head about the two of them trying again.

And yet he could not say that they were not going to be getting back together because…. Because for the two of them to go on as they were, living separate lives was not what he wanted.

He wanted the exact opposite.

But in the middle of all of this there was a thirteen year old boy who barely had any real memories of his parents being together.

And he knew he had to be aware of that.

"Joey knows I have the other apartment. I am just moving into your moms to take care of him till she gets home…"

"Papa…"

"Stephanie, I promise you I am not trying to give your little brother the wrong impression here."

She nodded. "I know you would never try to do it… but you – I don't want any of us getting hurt here papa. Not any more than we already have been."

Over the years the four of them had all got battered and bruised by love one way or another… none of them needed that any more.

She looked up as her dad sighed and she wondered what was going through his mind.

"Neither do I, baby girl... I do not want that."

But at the same time he did not want to sit his son down and tell him there was no chance of him and his mother making another go of it.

Because Steve did not want to believe that. More than anything… he wanted there to be a way back.

"Then you have to tell him straight."

"He hasn't said anything to you about it, has he?"

"Not in so many words… but I know my baby brother, papa. Just please think about it. And think about what you say in front of him, ok?" she asked. "I know mama has needed you, but Joey and I have seen the way the two of you still look at each other…"

Somewhere inside of him, Steve could remember feeling like this the few times he remembered Jo telling him off when he had been a small boy.

But his daughter was saying what she was because she loved them all. He knew that.

"I will."

Steph nodded gratefully before stepping forward and placing a kiss on his cheek. "I know none of this is easy on you either."

"Don't worry about me baby. I have been MIA for the past few years… it is time I stepped up." He sighed heavily.

Steph smiled in a way that said she agreed.

"To be honest, little sweetness, I do not get why you're not laying the hell into me. After all I have done, and all I haven't done…"

His daughter sighed. "Neither do I."

And with that comment she left the room. If this was going to be her last night in the mansion then this was going to be the last chance she had to plead her father's case with her aunt. Another thing she was not sure why she wanted to do.

He had missed so much of her life. So much of her brother's life. Some of it he couldn't have helped. Some of it he could.

But nothing changed the fact the four of them had spent too much time separated by land and sea and loss of memory…. And just because she did not want Joey to jump the gun did not mean she did not think of them as family still.

Because they were… a family. The four of them. And they always would be in her mind.

Left behind, Steve sighed. He still found it hard to believe that the tiny little thing he had held in his hands was now a big grown up lady with more sense of her shoulders than her papa had ever had.

Still… maybe he should believe it as that was not hard, to have more sense than he did.

Steve took a deep breath as he realised Stephanie was right. He was going to have to have a word with his son. He couldn't start thinking this was going to end some way it couldn't…

He wondered how Joey would feel after that conversation… if it was akin to the way he himself was feeling right in that moment. He wanted to think… no. Not then. He could not and would not be that selfish.

He had just been thinking of heading to the pier with his harmonica for a little down time to blow away a few cob webs when his phone rang.

Immediately he feared it was the hospital … but when he looked at the caller ID and saw the word 'Shane' pop up, he knew that was not the case.

"How you doing dude?"

"Steve it's me."

"Billy Jack!" he said, a smile creeping back on to his face at the sound of his brother's voice.

"Hi, are you ok?"

"You know me dude, I am bearing up just fine."

"The kids and Kayla?"

There was a pause as Steve tried to think how best to answer that.

"They are doing as best they can."

Jack sighed in response at the end of the phone. He had not seriously thought his elder brother was going to say they were good but it would have been nice to hear the lie all the same.

"So what about you, you and Shane doing ok?"

"We are doing better than ok now we are back in Salem. I am home, big brother."

"Glad to hear it, Agent Deveraux."

"The only thing I do not quite know where home is these days."

Steve nodded. He was familiar with the problem.

"Well, I have had a chance to lay the ground work with Jen but I do not think you should just rock up there with no warning," he said. He could not imagine that was going to go down too well, even though Jen and Abby seemed delighted by the news he was alive. "Come to the Kiriakis mansion. I could do with your help with Adrienne."

"Is she ready to kill you for keeping –"

"The fact you were alive from her? Yeah…. Pretty much."

"I am sorry you had to take that on right now."

Steve nodded, with everything else going on it had been the last thing he had needed but it was done now.

And though Jack being home was not going to solve the problem it might go some way to begin putting's things to right.

"Just come to the mansion and then we can get this show on the road."

"See you soon."

 _Please review!_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Adrienne, baby, I know you are pissed at me right now but can I talk to you?" asked Steve as he stood outside his sister's bedroom door.

He was vaguely aware that she had said something about going out that night but did not recall where.

For a moment there was silence and he feared she was going to be so pissed at him that she was just going to say no and be done with it which to be honest, perhaps he deserved. But he knew that was going to change when he told her the news. Or maybe not, he thought to himself as she opened the door.

His sister looked pretty as a picture in a peach summer dress, with her hair and makeup done. She was clearly ready to set her cares aside for the evening.

Summer was not far off now for Salem. Soon it was going to be July 4th and the holiday. And it was clear she was ready for it.

"You look good."

"What do you want Steve?" she was in no mood to mess about.

"Its jack… he is coming home, I just got the call."

"That's – that's incredible," she said as a smile burst on to her face, her tone utterly different to how it had been just a second before.

She realised she wanted to take his hand and celebrate this with him. It was so long since all of them had been together and that was something worth celebrating. But she was angry with him and she had to remember that.

"When is he going to be here?" She asked with a little more formality hating the way his lips went up into a smile at her curt tone.

Somehow he had always known how to read what she was really thinking and feeling.

"In about ten minutes."

"Ten minutes? Jack is going to be here in about ten minutes?"

And just like that any thought of Lucas Horton which she might have had in her mind went clear out of her head.

She did like him. Enormously. But just then the idea the brother she had missed desperately was coming home seemed more important than anything else in the world. And so it was.

X x x

Jack signed in relief as he walked up to the Kiriakis mansion.

There was something about being in Salem which made him feel he was home, no matter where in the town he was.

But he was going to be _home_ as here was where his siblings were.

The three of them may not have grown up side by side, but the bonds which they had formed in adult hood bound them just as tight to one another.

He had missed them.

Not quite as much as Jen and the kids, but there was still an ache in his heart for them – especially his little sister. It had been years since he saw Adrienne … and he had worried for her. It was not the first time she had lost a brother without him really being dead and he was sure that had to affect a person.

As for him and Steve, at last he felt they were close now, the way brothers should be.

There were always going to be walls between them. He was the one who had put them there and Steve Johnson had never once in his life been entirely forgiving to those who hurt those he loved. Yet the past could be forgotten if not forgiven. It could be tucked away in a box, with the lid firmly shut down…

He had been about to ring the doorbell, vaguely wondering if Henderson was still working there when the door flew open.

It was not the butler who opened it though.

It was his sister. She had been expecting him.

His first thought was she had to be on her way out with Justin. She was not quite dressed for a night in but as soon as he looked at her face he knew she was not going to be going anywhere too far away from him that night.

"It is you!" she sighed, almost as if this was beyond belief. Already it was apparent that the sight was a lot for her to take in. She had tears on her face and as the two of them embraced he could feel her trembling. Through his own damp eyes he could see his big brother, standing behind his sister with a grin on his face.

In that moment he remembered what it felt like to think you had lost a beloved sibling forever. To think that you were never going to get them back, to say all the things which had been left unsaid.

His heart broke for her. She had been through this too many times.

"I am so sorry," he sighed. "I am so sorry."

By rights she should hate him for doing this to her again…. but she had never loved him more. He knew that. He could feel it.

"Welcome back, Jack," Steve grinned.

He did not get a chance to reply however, as Adrienne cut in.

"Are you ok?"

Jack nodded. "A bit of jet lag is the worst thing that is wrong with me. I have had our brother looking out for me after all."

"I wish he had been doing the same for me. I wish he had told me you were alive."

"Hey, do not blame Steve for that, he was just following orders. Remember, I could have picked up the phone too… so don't put this all on him."

Adrienne felt a mixture of responses to that on the tip of her tongue but none of them seemed to be able to form so she said nothing. She just nodded.

She heard what he was saying at least.

But right then all that could matter to her was the fact he was alive.

"You are looking good." He smiled.

"This ol' thing… I just threw it on."

Jack laughed. "Of course you did."

Even as he pulled away he could feel how reluctant she was to let him go.

But he had to greet Steve.

"Kim said Kayla was doing better."

"Yeah… she… she is better than she was. Not quite out the woods yet but getting there."

"That's great." He said glad to hear she was on the mend. "And the kids?" he suddenly aware that they were having the same conversation they had had not longer before on the phone. Still, Jack thought it was worth it just in case he could read something on his brother's face which he could not hear in his voice.

"Well, you could ask us about that," said a cheeky voice from the top of the stair case. Joey may have grown taller in the time which they had been apart, but Jack recognised his nephew in an instant. A wide smile appeared on his face.

Stephanie was not far behind.

X x x

That night it did not take long for Steph to get the measure of the relationship between the three Johnson siblings.

It was clear that her Uncle Jack adored her dad, the way a young boy did superman.

So did her Aunt Adrienne. She was mad but the way she looked at her brothers together said the sun was shining for her. Just for her.

As it turned out, her Uncle Jack was no more forth coming with details over the missions he had been on than her father was. Whenever the two brothers were quizzed they kept an eye on the other in order to keep their story straight. But none of them really wanted to talk about that stuff about the past. What matter was the going forward.

Of course, Jack had no idea what that was going too entailed until he spoke with Jen and the kids. He liked to think he was going to be back living with them soon but there were no guarantees.

"You can always move in with me for a while," Steve offered.

It was not as if he was going to be staying at Kayla's forever.

Joey shifted at his dad's side.

Subconsciously, Steve wrapped an around tighter round his son.

"Or you can stay here. It is going to be quiet once these three have gone," Adrienne admitted.

"Surely you and Justin are looking forward to a little peace and quiet from the rabble." Jack teased as the Johnsons loudly protested the label.

"Yeah," Adrienne murmured with a thin lipped smile in Jacks direction.

Even before then, he then knew there was something very much up with his sister's marriage. Just the way she had been that night… Then it was confirmed.

"So where is Dimples tonight?" Steve asked.

Now that he thought about it, he was suddenly very aware that he had barely seen his brother in law. And he had certainly not seen him be very attentive to his wife.

"Out," she tried to reply breezily.

It did not work.

Stephanie knew the one thing they – and especially her aunt – needed right then was a change of subject. And she was more help her out there.

"Who is in favour of ordering a pizza for dinner?"

"I'm starving!" Joey nodded.

Adrienne had been about to concur when her phone buzzed.

 _Where are you? Lucas x_

She did not know why it was she could not bring herself to reply.

X x x

Adrienne was the one who made the call to Jen the next morning.

It was a relatively short conversation.

Adrienne said her brother was home at last to which Jen replied she was on her way.

Calling to the kids, she gave them both the news. In Abby she saw the same nervous excitement she herself felt. This was not going to be like the last time when they had wasted so much time in punishing Jack. She was not going to be pushing him away.

No matter if had had been dead or not… What mattered was he had made sure his daughter had not been.

Ever since that day, Jack had once more been the ultimate hero in the eyes of his daughter and of his wife. They couldn't wait to have him back.

His son however did not feel likewise.

JJ had been at war within himself since he had heard what his mom and sister had labelled as the 'good news'. On the one hand, the little boy in him was over joyed to have his father back and yelled out that the rest of him that he should be that happy.

This was all he had ever wanted.

He had his dad back.

Only he did not, as the man and dad he had loved would never have been capable of something as disgusting and violent as rape.

But now he knew he was – and the dad he had admired and hero worshipped had not even existed.

And so he did not feel he could go to him as his mother and sister did. He did not know how to feel and he was not going to make a liar of himself. Not any more than he already had, he thought mournfully as Paige entered his thoughts for just a moment.

He could not see his dad until he knew how he felt. And how he was meant to do that he was not sure…

"But this is our dad – and he is alive." Abby stated… normally they were as close as could be…. But this time JJ was painfully aware they were not even close to being on the same page.

Not even nearly.

Jen looked at him with something that looked a lot like pity which made him angry. JJ turned away. He did not want to fight about this – not with either of them.

"Come on," he hear her say gently to his sister. They had to go. As his mother got to the door however she turned back.

"Take all the time you need honey."

X x x

"How did you sleep?"

"Like a baby," said Jack as he sat down by his sister.

"Liar," Adrienne smirked knowingly.

He did not deny it.

It was ten thirty. He had been in Salem for just over half a day and the time in which he had not spent with his family had all been spent thinking about those members of his family he had not yet been reunited with.

Namely his wife and kids.

He had barely been able to sleep at all, if the truth was known, for thinking of them.

But even then he could see there was a kind of normality returning to his life.

As they had been eating breakfast Steve had been getting his son ready to go off to school. Steph had been checking her work emails. Adrienne had explained she was going to have to go in to the restaurant that afternoon…

It was all so normal.

A kind of normal he had not had for a long time. One which he had wanted a lot.

He just hoped he was going to get a chance to have it again. Because if not… then he did not know what he was going to do.

It was that fear that paralyzed him when the doorbell at last rang.

Because what if he wasn't going to get another chance? He was sure he would rather live in a fantasy than open a door up to a world where he did not get to live with Jen and the kids.

"Jack honey," Adrienne encouraged as the two of them looked towards the foyer.

He did not wish to be such a coward, but there was nothing else he could do.

He just shook his head.

However, just because he was completely immobile, it did not mean that the world was going to stop moving or turning.

"I'll get the door then, shall I?" Steve asked as he came down the stars.

Whether or not Jack wanted him to do that however, Steve never gave him a chance to say. He just opened the door wide to the two Deveraux women.

"Hey!" he said as the two of them walked in nervously, given, each of them a kiss on the check.

"Hey Steve… we got a call from Adrienne."

"Yeah, I know. Go straight through, they are in the living room."

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	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

When Jack thought back to the night before, all he could remember was how much he had wanted this moment to arrive. He had longed for it, it had been his every dream. Now it felt as if it had come too soon. He just wasn't ready. He was in a pair of jeans and a jumper, but it was the wrong jumper and the jeans were the wrong colour.

Jen was going to think he was a mess. He was a mess.

And he wanted to ask his brother and his sister to buy him some time but by the sounds of it his wife and his daughter were already coming in to the room and if they did not love him and could not forgive him this time then he swore to god he was going to understand….

But he hoped if that was the case, then they just would not have come at all for he did not think he could with stand actually being rejected by them all over again.

His mind was racing and racing and going faster and faster and so was his heart he did not know how it was ever going to stop until at last it did.

All he had to do to stop it as it turned out was look at Jennifer Rose Horton.

His Miss Horton.

There she was. Another three years of separation had passed them by since they had last been together and yet she so looked like his Jen still. She was in a pretty pale pink dress and her hair was let down loose…

And she was Jen. His beautiful, funny Jen.

And she was not alone.

Whereas Jen seemed to stand still in time, Abby had no desire too. She rushed forward to him. _To him._

His daughter was running to him.

"Daddy!"

That word from her mouth… it never failed to make his heart stop. He could still remember the first time he had heard it and he wished he could remember every single time.

But perhaps the other times did not matter so much.

Maybe it was only this time that mattered right then.

She wrapped her arms about him. She held him tight and he put his arms about her and he wondered how any of them could have ever stayed away for so long.

Maybe it was the Johnson DNA… or maybe it was just something about being a man in Salem which made men so very stupid. But he did not know how many of them missed so much time with their wives and their daughters and their sons.

No more. That was all he could promise. He was not going to miss any more.

"Oh baby…. I am so sorry, I did not mean - I did not meant to leave you – not again."

That at least was truthful.

When he had gone in to the elevator he had not meant to leave Jennifer or Abigail. He had just wanted to save his daughter and he had achieved that end.

He had done that.

What had followed after had not been his fault. The shaft had fallen and he had been knocked out and hurt pretty bad. It was weeks later that he came too and found out he had fallen into the hands of the ISA.

After further weeks of recovery he had been given a choice to either go home or go a mission to get DiMera. He had been on the verge of going back to his girls when he had reunited with his brother, really reunited. He had been unable to remember the last time he had seen Steve – so _Steve_. He had been so motivated and driven and it seemed like a good idea for the two of them to go on this great adventure together. The way people talked it felt as if they were not going to be gone for very long - and then they would return.

So had he chosen to stay away? He guessed so. But there was no active moment that he remembered choosing to not go home to his family. It was more just a case that he had got swept along in the tide.

He should have dug hid feet harder into the sand to stay put perhaps.

But it was too late for all that.

His heart broke a little further as he mentally came back into the Kiriakis living room and he knew his shirt was already wet from his daughter's tears.

"No, daddy – you are not the one who has to be sorry, I am. I am so sorry I went into that elevator, ever since that day – I have never ever forgiven myself, dad, I am so sorry," she said as she clung on to him.

When she had thought he was gone for ever because of her…

That he was never going to get to see the three of them again because of something she had done….That had broken her heart and she had been sure a little bit of her own soul had died with her dad.

But here he was – and that piece of her came back to life as he had done.

"Baby, np – none of that was your fault, not the explosion, not me – going away, not any of it. I choose to follow to because I could never have lived with myself if –"well he could not even say it. It was the unthinkable.

He continued to hold her for a while, yet as Abby's cries softened he felt his attention pass from his little girl to her mother.

Jen too had tears rolling down her face.

Her beautiful face.

Turning back to Abby for just a moment, he kissed her forehead before he nodded to Adrienne. His sister took his meaning and stepped forward to look after her niece while Jack turned to Jennifer.

When she had come into the room she had been so still it was almost unnatural for her.

When they had been young she had been like him. She had been a constant whirl of activity. That was why he had fallen so deeply in love with his Miss Horton. It was as he was remembering that, that she copied the actions of her daughter not so long before and ran in to his arms.

Instead of burying her head in his shoulders though, she pushed her lips very firmly to his.

It had been as if the time he had been with Abby, their daughter's mother had been thinking – but the truth was that wasn't it at all. She had just been taking the moment in.

She had done all her thinking long ago. She no longer cared to think about how many times she had believed Jack to be dead – how many times she had thought herself a widow. The only answer to that was too many. But it had given her hope – and it had allowed her to make a promise to herself. That if he was going returned and that if he came back… this time she was not going to question it.

She was just going to take the lemon life gave her… and make lemonade.

This was the last thing Jack had expected. He had been ready to try and defend himself for he knew – or at least – he had thought he was going to have to work harder than ever before to convince her he truly did love her….

Only she seemed to already know, thank god.

He pulled her closer, setting his hand on her lower back for just a moment. He felt her lips curve, smiling at the taste of his kiss knowing she was as wanted as she was wanting at that moment. Jack wished a wish it could go on forever. But he knew it couldn't…

As he knew drew back he knew there had to be about a million questions in both of their eyes, but before he could ask single one of them, she had put his fingers to his lips and shook her head gently.

"We have wasted too much time we are not going to get back already. I know the drill here and I don't care where you've been…. this isn't like last time. Just… just tell me your home for good."

He had said that to her before and it had ended up not being the truth. He knew that she was trying to fool herself that his word was enough even then.

But if he could take the basis she was trying to give him then, pick it up and run with it, and back it up with actions, maybe they did have a starting point after all…

He nodded. Truly… he had no intention of leaving her – not ever again.

Once again, he kissed her deeply, breaking apart only when they both needed air. He came away laughing as he held her tight, wondering if his heart could possibly be fuller, when he realised the answer to that was… yes. It could.

"Where's JJ? Where's my son?"

Abby wished she had not looked at her mom in that moment, begging her to be the one to answer. She just wasn't sure what to say to that.

But she gave the game away, that was for sure.

"Is something wrong with him?"

"No!" Jen hushed her husband as she held on to him. "He – he just has a lot going on right now. He would have been here if he could but you will see him soon."

Gotta be a pretty big deal to stop him coming to see his daddy coming back from the dead, thought Steve. He had known something was up with his nephew

As Abigail stepped forward to help her mom convince her dad there was nothing all that wrong with her brother, Steve realised the three of them at least were going to be fine. They were united as a family and they certainly did not need him hanging around.

He could go back and focus on his own family.

With drawing from the room, he had been about to go and get Joey and Stephanie's packed bags to put in the car when a voice stopped him.

He turned back to see his sister was there and she had a look on contentment on her face.

"Seeing that – it was quite something…." She started.

"Yeah… yes it was, baby. Adrienne, listen –"

"No, for once in your life you are going to be the one who listens." She cut him off. "I had every right to be angry with you…. And I still wish you would have told me sooner… but what's done is done. And the two of you are home. That's what matters to me."

Having her two brothers back was all she had ever wanted. And now she had them she was not going to let anything spoil that.

"Jennifer is right, you know? Over the years, you, Jack and I have lost so much time together too. I don't want to waste want more being angry over something I cannot change," she finished as she stepped closer to him. Assigning blame was not going to change the past.

She needed her brother more than ever – or at least she knew she was going to in the coming days.

Steve took the hint as a smile appeared on his face and he wrapped his arms about her.

"Love you."

"I love you, too, Steve," She said as she settled in his arms. "Besides, I should be used to this by now right. It's a Monday, right? Why the hell shouldn't one of my dead brothers be alive after all?"

X x x

Stephanie dropped in to the living room to see her uncle later that morning. Where the two of them had never been that close she had been anxious to not take away from his reunion to those who mattered most to him, but the two of them reunited warmly and had a quick chat.

"I was just going to put a pop of coffee on if anyone wants one."

Her aunt had told her a million times that week that if she just asked Henderson then he was going to bring the coffee to her but she felt weird about it.

She was not an invalid and she could go get her own coffee. Her aunt had grumbled when she had explained the way she had felt and said something about 'Johnson pride' but that had been that.

"You know what," Abby said as she stood up. "I will help you."

She could do with a moment to compose herself after the morning she had had.

Turning back, she kissed both of her parents on the forehead in turn.

"Don't go away," she said with half a smile at her dad.

"I am not going anywhere, for a long time to come, you can count on that."

Abby left the room and for the first time in a long time Jack found himself alone with Jennifer.

The laughter that filled the room as they looked at one another over rode the silence and Jen knew no matter what else was to come, she would always think of her Jack as a blessing to her.

"I can't believe your really here. God I can't believe you're real."

How did he keep doing it? How did he keep finding a way back to her when all paths back should be closed?

"I can't believe you're in my arms," he said as he held on to her, kissing her cheek. "I can't believe that I am lucky enough to get to hold you like this. I can't believe – oh Jen, I can't wait for tonight. I can't wait for you to take me home."

The way the two of them were together he did not think there could be any other end to this day but with them going to bed together. In _their_ bed.

What a pleasure it was going to be to sleep next to his wife, to hear her breathing by his side as they slept.

If they slept at all. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her, show her how much he loved her…

But that was when she tensed up.

"Did I say something wrong?"

She shook her head. He hadn't. He had not said anything which she did not want to hear. But she was a mom. And as much as she wanted to relish being with Jack again in every which way that she could…

"Jack, you are going to have to give JJ a little time to get used to the idea that you're well… here."

It was the second time his sons name had been brought up – Jennifer could insist things were ok – but he knew they weren't.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing…"

"Jennifer."

"JJ loves you. So much, ok?" she said as she caressed his cheek, looking into his face. She did not want to do this to him. But deep down she knew she had to level with him if he was ever going to get to begin to understand.

So they could start rebuilding properly.

"A couple of years ago, JJ came back from England. It was about a year after we thought you had –"

"Died," he provided.

She nodded. "H – he was not in a very good head space, you have to understand and he missed you so much. I wasn't being the mom he needed."

Jack rubbed her shoulder. "I am sure that isn't true."

"It is true." Jen nodded. It was kind of him to say that but as she looked back on the past she knew the truth of their situation and this was it.

"Daniel and I were trying to make a go of things when he came back –"

"Daniel." Jack sighed. Well, he should have known his death was not going to stop the doctor from trying to take his place…. Or wins Jens heart. He was not sure he could even blame him for that.

Nothing would have stopped him trying to win Jens heart.

"Nothing is going on now. It is a long time over," she explained. "But at the time it wasn't and JJ was desperate to defend your memory and your book was coming out and – and there was a lot of mixed emotions going on about that time.

"Anyway, what I am trying to say is JJ thought about you a lot and – and your past."

She felt her husband tense at the words she was saying. He knew what she was saying.

There was silence between them for just a moment as he digested the news.

"Did he find – does he know…. About Kayla and I?"

Jen looked as if her heart was breaking as she nodded.

Nothing had made sense to Jack that morning over why his son would not come to him. Now it all made sense.

"He – he did not find out as gently as Abby did. I was too busy trying to stop him from finding out to sit down and tell him. There was other stuff going on at the time too, we weren't getting on."

"So how did he find out?" Jack asked with a voice devoid of emotion.

"He read the transcript from Lawrence's trial."

Jack smiled bitterly. So he had been the one to tell his son his own darkest secret.

He himself. Billy Jack.

God, he made himself sick…

"Well - this is no less than I deserve. I was – I was so arrogant and I don't know what I was thinking back then…"

And now he had to face the consequences. Years after the event he had to face the real consequences of what he had done. At the time he had thought him going on trial for rape was the worst thing that could possibly happen to him. But now he knew better.

Knowing his children knew what a monster he had been. That was his just desserts.

"You were a completely different man back then, I told JJ that."

"No, I wasn't. I am the same man, living in the same body now –" he said as she shook his head.

Over the years she had been so swift to say words of comfort to reassure him he was not the same man who had raped Kayla. He couldn't hear that then though.

Now he was not the important one. Then important one was JJ – and how he dealt with this.

"Do you know the worst thing?"

She shook her head. She did not know what could be worse for him right now.

"It is the fact I know just how he feels. I loved Harper so much when I was a boy. I wanted to be just like him, a real Deveraux man. He was my hero…. And then I learnt the truth."

It all rung to true to what she had just told him.

Jack felt his heart shatter. At the end of the day, he was still the same man he had always been.

And he was truly his father's son after all.

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	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Joey, for the first time in a long time it had seemed, had had a good day.

School had been ok. He had not had maths which was always a bonus and when he got out of school he found his sister and his dad outside ready to give him a ride home.

To his actual home.

The three of them stopped off on the way at the hospital to see his mom who was either beginning to feel a bit better or had got better at faking her smile over the past few days. He sincerely hoped it was the former and not the latter.

After he had seen his mom, what felt at long last, he got to go home.

To his own apartment.

To his own room.

If nothing else said things were getting better, that did. He was surrounded by his thing, the normal every day stuff he had taken for granted before…

And he would have if all truth had been known been happy to stay there that night. But his dad said they were going to have dinner at the pub with the rest of the family to say thank you to his aunt Adrienne for having them.

If it had been anywhere else then he would have protested going, but as it was he did miss his grandma (he had barely been at the pub at all since his mom's accident) and he did want to thank his aunt.

It was time for them to get back to some kind of normal.

That was what coming back to the apartment was meant to be about.

And so dinner at the pub it was.

X x x

Kayla's home – where ever that was always made - Steve feel as if he was home too. He had felt that way at the loft and at the mansion the two of them had lived in when they had got married and even at the hotel room they had stayed in together after his 'return' nine years beforehand.

It was something about the way they felt and smelt.

He had certainly never felt that way about his room under Shenanigans. But even though he had permission to be here – something felt as if it was all out of place or wrong. As if something – or someone - was missing.

Which of course they were.

 _Sweetness…_

If she was here it would make all the difference in the world. It would be make him feel this was where he was meant to be too…

But now as he saw in her living room looking at the pictures of the River Seine which hang above the fire place – he felt a little flat.

The two great saving graces which he did have though, did make this place feel like home.

And they were called Joey and Stephanie.

"Papa, are we going for this dinner?" he heard his baby girl call to him.

He smiled. "Coming!"

Going back to the Brady Pub felt a lot like going home too. He would not deny he missed the Fish Market – but this place had been his father in laws dream (as well as his own suggestion). It was good to see the family business was doing so well, though he, of course, wished Shawn had been about to enjoy it for longer. He had earned it.

Steve winced at the memory of Ava… and why Shawn was not here, enjoying the fruits of his labour. Still, if he had been here, Steve had no doubt around now he would have strung him up for the way he'd treated Kayla…

To his surprise, Caroline gave him a relatively warm welcome, all things considered.

But she had never been backward in coming forward and that was clearly not something which would change with age.

"Now you are not to go running off in to the night again. There two," she said as she nodded to her two Johnson grandchildren "are going to need you. And so does my daughter."

"I know, mama," he said sincerely. "I am going nowhere."

"You best not. I still haven't forgiven you for the last time you broke her heart."

"I never meant to do that." Steve said lowly, suddenly glad his kids had wondered off to greet their aunts and uncles. He registered vaguely that Justin had actually turned up.

"But you did." There was a sharpness he had not wanted to hear in her voice. Then she softened, cupping one of his cheeks. "My daughter needs you."

 _And I need her…_

"She has me," came his solemn reply.

"Make sure she does, Steven Earl."

Caroline had never understood their split. She had said a small pray right then that some good might come out of all this and past wrongs may at last be put right. Her eyes did not leave him till he had sat down at the table him and the rest of the Johnson clan would be eating their dinner at.

X x x

"So I am going to be taking you up on the offer of the apartment if I still can." Jack told his brother.

It was not the end to the day he had been banking on.

When he had reunited with Jen it was as if all his troubles were going to melt away. He had her love still.

Life would be easy. But it wasn't.

JJ and he had a long road to walk and after a chat with Jen it was clear it would be easier for his son to walk it if he had had a bit of space from his dad. Which was all he had had from Jack for the past few years but apparently he needed more…

"Not a problem. You can have the keys tonight." Steve offered as he gave his niece a sorry smile. It was all too clear Abi was not happy either.

She had want her dad back where she saw him as belonging. But that wasn't going to happen.

"Well, there is no need for that tonight." Said Adrienne as she turned to her husband who had joined them for dinner. "Jack can stay another night with us, cant he Justin?"

The lawyer nodded. He was suddenly very aware of his brothers in law watching hm.

"Of course," he said. "It will be good to spend a bit of time with you. I am only sorry I was gone so much of the time this week."

He had been there at the hospital when things had begun… but once he had known Adrienne had her brothers back he had – well, dropped off the radar a bit. And he knew he shouldn't off… but somehow it had just happened.

"Are you?" asked Steve levelly.

His sister sent him an imploring look his way to leave it.

Only for her would he do that. For no one else given the circumstances.

"Yes… but with the two of you home we can all make up for that now," he said as he looked down the table of eight. All the Salem Johnsons were there, asides for JJ and Sonny. The only reason Sonny was missing was due to Ari running a fever.

Adrienne beamed. "That's right. The Johnsons are back in business."

And even if they were not quite there yet, it was not going to be long till they were.

From the bar, Bo Brady watched… and stewed.

X x x

 _Kayla lay on the ground. She was hurt and she was bleeding and in need have help._

 _Joey was trying all he could to get to her._

 _He wanted to run to her side, but his feet would not move. No matter what, he just felt as if he could not get to her._

 _But what made it all so much worst was how close his dad was to his mom. And how he was doing nothing to help her… he was just standing there. Steve looked blankly at the woman he loved as it seemed to their boy that she was… dying…_

 _As his son screamed his throat red raw, Steve did nothing. He cried and he called for his dad, he scratched and kicked and invisible enemy, then he waited._

 _His father turned to him and seemed to acknowledge what he was saying, yelling, screaming… then he turned and walked away anyway…._

Even as he lay down on the couch to sleep, Steve found his mind was racing. It was full of Adrienne and the trouble she was having with Justin and Jack, Jen and the trouble it was clear they would have with their son. It was full of Stephanie's warning and the hope Joey might have for the future and of course, like his heart and soul, it was full of thoughts of Kayla.

Here he was trying to sleep in her flat without her being with him. It simply was not right.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he looked at the picture above the fireplace…

She had done the place up nice as she always did. But he knew so little of her life here. He did not even know for sure how long she had been here.

Kayla had forwarded the address so he knew where Joey was he guessed but he did not put a date to it… till recently he had not wanted to think of her and their boy here doing normal stuff – it had hurt.

But now it hurt more as he had no way of picturing her here… how she would look on the couch next to him, what she laughed at when she was watching the TV, whether she still walked about with her hair went after the shower… he didn't know any of it anymore…

Then there was the fact he was lying on her sofa alone, instead of at her side in her bed.

When he was in Kayla's house he knew that was his place. And yet it just had not worked out that way.

He knew that was all his own fault. When all was said and done it came down to the fact he should never have left her…

He saw that as the first of two bottom lines, the second being that he loved her.

Always, he had loved her. He took in a deep breath and sighed as he readjusted his eye patch only to jump out of his skin from the sound of a cry down the hall.

"Dad!"

It took Steve no time at all to get to his sons room. He had never known his boy to have nightmares, but it was clear that was what was going on.

"Son," he said as he went in to the room, sat down on the bed and kissed Joeys forehead, cupping his faced as he called his name. "Joe, I am here buddy, I am here."

For a moment he was not sure if his son was even seeing him. The fear was still in his eyes as he opened them.

Stroking his cheeks, he kissed his forehead again.

"Dad!"

"I am right here, I am right here with you, baby boy…" Steve promised as he put another kiss on his forehead and then drew him in to his arms.

He felt his son cling to him.

"She was dying dad – she was going to die and I couldn't get to her! Yo – no one was helping her"

"No one is going to die. No one," Steve said as he rocked a little. "I promise."

"I want mama home! I want her back here, with us," said Joey as tears ran down his face.

"I know you do. So do I and it is not long now till she will be back. Shhh," he soothed as he held him.

For a moment, Joey said nothing at all as he tried to get his breath. He could feel his dad rubbing his back, almost as one would a baby who needed calming. And something in him screamed to pull back but – but this was his dad.

Whoever that was in his dream, the man he had walked away – it had not been Steve Johnson … his dad was right here.

He was not going to be turning his back on him, on them. On him and his mom…

He was right there. Joey had to believe that, he longed to believe it…

And though he did not want his dad to think he was some sort of baby, Joey just couldn't find it in himself yet to be strong…

His mother had been so pale and so lifeless and his dad just did nothing and everything had changed so fast. It felt as if he had not been able to grab on to anything in so long. But now he had grabbed on to his dad.

At least for then he could hold tight to that.

Steve mean while continued to hug him, and tried to reach back through his memory to the last time he had held one of his kids thus. He guessed it must have been some time back in Africa.

Joe had been so small when the three of them had headed off on the great adventure. He had just been finding his legs and for a time it had seemed to him as if there future was going to be so very bright.

But things had not turned out like that.

Still… they had had some great months before it had all gone so very wrong…. And some hard nights. Joe had not quite been sleeping through the night, especially not when they had first got there.

It had been so hot and the change of environment had been hard for their little boy and he had clung to Kayla and Steve…. But particularly to Steve…

' _He is your little shadow…'_

He could not count the number of times he had heard Kayla say that to him about their son… He was so, so sorry he had left him…

He had been so wrong. he should never have…

Steve did not know it was possible to feel so much regret. But he knew he was going to feel it till the day he died. He blinked away the hotness in his eyes.

Kissing his sons head, he pulled back.

"How you doing, little dude? You ok?"

His son nodded and Steve was relieved to see his sons eyes were a little less saucer like. But they were also embarrassed. It looked as if there was shame in his eyes. He did not want his son to feel like that. Not with him.

"Yeah – yeah, I am sorry, pop. It was just a bad dream," he said as he lay back against his pillow. He knew that now.

Joey looked utterly drained.

"You do not ever have to say sorry to me for having a nightmare buddy. You want to tell me what happened?"

The young teen shook his head. He did not want to talk about what he had seen. He never wanted too think about it…

"It might help to talk – "

"No!" Joey was surprised by how harshly the word came out of his mouth. There was only one thing that he wanted, one thing that could make all of this better for him. "When is she coming home?"

"Soon," Steve said. And for the first time he knew he was not lying… Kayla was making progress. She was healing, he had noted her bruises beginning to fade.

She was not ill any more even if she did have a condition that was going to take a long time… to get better from.

It was not going to be long until they could bring her home. not now…

"I want her home. I hate it when she is gone."

"I know you do."

"Do you?" Joey asked as he looked at him.

Steve nodded. "Of course, I want your mother to come home."

"But when she does, you're going to stay right?"

"Buddy, you know I am not going to do that. When mama gets home she is going to need her space and me being here – it is just going to make things a lot more complicated."

"It might make things simpler than you think."

"How did you work that one out?"

Joey shrugged. It was just a feeling.

"Have you and mom had a fight?"

Steve shook his head. "No – no we haven't, what gave you that idea?"

"Just when you first got back here it seemed as if you two were kinda close and the last few days – it hasn't been like that."

"Joey," Steve begun taking a deep breathe. "You need to understand that me and your mom - we go way back and there has been a lot of things gone on between us… it makes things anything but simple. But what I will say is this. I am not fighting with your mother. She is my – my dearest friend and I care about what happens to her very, very much."

"You're not going to leave her, are you?" Joey's voice was smaller than it had been since Steve got back as he asked that question.

Steve shook his head. He had no intentions of leaving her.

"I am not going to leave any of you. Not for a long time to come. I promise."

And he knew he was going to have to back up that promise with action. After all the time he had been away it was going to take more than a few words to help Joey, to convince the little dude he had his dad home for good…

But they were going to get there.

Steve would make sure of that.

x x x

"Do you have any idea how much I missed this?"

"Maybe just a little."

The honeymoon suite had perhaps been an extravagance too far in the mind of Kimberly Brady when she had first heard that that was the room which Shane had booked for them in the Salem Inn. But now that they were there alone in the middle of the night, skin on skin, she did not feel that way.

Not even nearly.

Looking back up at the love of her life she felt her lips tug into a smile. All she had to do was look at him and her heart filed with so much joy she was sure it was going to burst.

So far she had had him back for such a small amount of time. Not even a whole forty eight hours yet.

She still had to keep looking at him to make sure he was real. But she was beginning to believe he was. And for that night the only mission which he had was to make her very, very happy. He was already doing a rather good job at fulfilling it.

He had been all day.

The two of them had got up and had a slow, easy breakfast together. And then Kim had had a shower – she had been trying to get clean but when Shane had come in to scrub her back it was clear he had other things on his mind.

By eleven they were out and in the car and on their way to the Kiriakis mansion. Shane could only agree with Kimberly's sentiments about their daughter living in a house with Victor Kiriakis, but for now there was nothing they could do about it. The thought did cross his mind though that if they were to buy a house, put routes down in Salem once more… maybe she would not have too. That was he however, a conversation for another day. For that day all he had had to do was cradle his little grandson in his arms.

"What do you think, daddy?" Theresa had asked as he had held Tate for the first time.

"I think he is the most beautiful little boy I have set eyes on since your elder brother was born."

He could see Andrew in Tate. And of course his mother. He had never had this time with Eve which he was always going to regret that… Holding Tate had brought that back to him.

They had had lunch with their daughter and their grandchild before they had gone on to the hospital to see Kayla.

His sister in law had been looking well for all she had been through. It was apparent she had had a rough time but he had clearly missed the worst period. Kayla Brady was on the mend. They had not stayed for long. Kayla and Kim had had a proper chat while Shane had chimed in, his wife signing for him as and when he had something to add to the conversation, but mainly it had been the two sisters continuing to catch up. However, it was clear that Kayla was tired before long and so Shane and Kim had left her to sleep, bidding her good night with a kiss on her forehead.

And that had given them a chance to go to Chez Rouge and continuing their own catch up.

Once they had exchanged pleasantries with Maggie, they had found a quiet table in the corner of the restaurant.

And then they had got lost in their own world. Shane had asked all about the kids and the time they had been apart and she had just relished his company… She always had. He had never just been her husband… he had been her lover and her friend.

And it was his friendship she had missed the very most when he was gone. It always had been. No one had ever been her friend the way he had been.

That was when they went back to the hotel room… and just loved being together a little more.

Kim smiled like a cat who got the cream, her head pillowed on his chest as he strummed his fingers through her hair.

"A little." she giggled.

"Ok, a lot," Shane corrected as he kissed the top of her head again.

"Same way I missed you," she said as she reached up to press their lips together. Shane hummed, glad to hear it.

"What a first day home this has been," he said contently as he held her. It had not all been all he had dreamt it would be in an ideal world, but for the most part, they could call it a win.

"'Home'? Is that what you think of Salem as? Still?" she asked as she ran a hand up and down his arm.

"No – it is what I think as you as."

"Right answer, Mr Donovan," she laughed.

He chuckled…

"It may be just as well if you did think of this place as home again though… I do not think we are going to be able to go back to LA for a while. Not with the way things are…."

There was too much going on there for them to do.

He nodded. "Well, then we'll stay. But we don't have to decide anything tonight do we?" he asked and she shook her head.

"All we have to do tonight is be together."

And after all the practice they had had at that over the years, she found they were very, very good at it.

The next day she was sure would not be an easy one. They were going to have to go and catch up with Eve and really begin to face up to the fact they shared a little relation with victor Kiriakis.

But that could wait. All of it could just wait.

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	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

It was morning after the night before and Steve found the last thing he wanted to do was send his son into school.

After they had had their chat, it had not taken Joey long to calm down but it had taken him a while to go back to sleep, of that, Steve was sure. His son did not want him to stay with him but Steve found he too was lying awake after. He had heard through the walls Joey getting up and down and moving around and not for the first time he wished Joey was a little one again.

Babies were so much easier than teens. No one ever told you that when you got into this parenthood thing… sure babies couldn't tell you what was wrong… but the worst thing was that teens just plain wouldn't…

Steve had good cause to remember that as he sat across from his son eating breakfast with big bags under his eyes.

"You know, if you want a chill day – that would be ok with me, baby boy. You don't have to go to school."

Joey shook his head. "I have to go in, there is this big science project we are meant to be doing and I have not really been pulling my weight with it." he admitted.

He had had so much going on asides…

Steve smiled. That sense of responsibilities when it came to his studies did not come from him. That was the one thing he did know.

"You are so like…. Like your mom," he said, the words slipping out before he could stop them.

Joey smiled. That was the highest compliment his dad could give.

"Are you going to go and see her this morning?" Stephanie asked as she came into the room.

"Yes. I am going to go in and then I am going to go over the hall and see how your Uncle Jack is settling in."

"It is a shame he could not go back with Aunt Jen and Abby," Steph commented as she poured herself a coffee.

"But if JJ isn't ready for that then he should not have to – you know…." Joey defended his cousin.

"Live with his dad? Yeah, I get that," Steph shrugged. "But what I don't get is why. Do you know?" she asked her little brother.

He shook his head. He wished he did. "He hasn't told me." Which was weird because the two of them were close.

He mussed over the conversations the two of them had had over the last few months. But there was nothing he could pull out.

He was about to respond, when Steve's phone rang.

"Johnson," he said as he picked it up.

"Hello Mr Johnson, this is Maxine at University Hospital. Just to let you know that Ms Brady has an appointment with Doctor Jonas at ten o'clock today. She has asked that you be there."

"I'll be there." he said with a nod.

"Ok, see you later."

"Bye."

"What was that?" sked Steph.

"It was the hospital, your mama has a check-up this morning. I am going to go and see what is going on."

"I'll come," his daughter said as she picked up her coffee and went to get changed out of her pyjamas.

"Me too!"

"No, little dude, you have already said you have to go to school and work on that science project. We will fill you in on what happens."

X x x

"Have you got many meetings today?" asked Adrienne as she went into the living room to see Justin sitting on the sofa.

"Only one at ten," he said as he looked up. "Where's Jack?"

"Steve gave him the keys last night so he has gone to get set up at the apartment," she said as she sat down.

Justin smiled sadly. "Do you know, you had the same look on your face when the last of the boys moved out?"

She nodded. "It has been so lovely having a full house again. Not the reason, of course, but it was so good having someone to fuss over."

"As far as I am concerned the sooner we can start getting Ari over for sleepovers the better."

He had known from very early on that she had been born to be a mother. She wasn't any good when she had no one to dote on.

"I am going to love those days," she said as she planned in her head what they were going to do. She had always wanted a daughter…. But they had never had the chance. Ari was the next best thing.

"So will I….but until those days are here we can – well, spend the days together – or at least the nights. You have done so much for everyone else lately. How about I take you out for dinner?"

To his shame, he did not know when he had last said something like that too her.

"Tonight?" she asked. There was so much surprised in her voice.

It broke his heart.

"Tonight. I'll picked you up at eight, Mrs Kiriakis," he said with a teasing smile before kissing her forehead.

After everything they had been through, it was time to set them back on the right path.

Looking at his wife, Justin shook all thoughts of Lucas Horton out his mind. That night, would be for them.

X x x

'Morning sweetness,' signed Steve as he went into Kayla's hospital room.

Stephanie followed close behind him, signing good morning to her mother. As soon as the two of them saw one another, mother and daughter embraced. Steve felt his heart fill. It was the same way he had felt when he had seen Stephanie in her mother's arms as a baby.

As if something was very right with the world.

And it was not just the two of them being together that made him feel that way.

It was the way that Kayla looked that morning.

She was on the mend. That was clear that day – for the first time, she looked better.

She was no longer in her pyjamas but had a pair of jogging pants and a T Shirt on. She was not looking like her self – if she looked like herself, she was going to be in a dress and a pair of heals – but she did not look so small any more. She looked like the women he had fallen in love with – she had that glint in her eye again.

'How you feeling?" Steph signed.

It was only too obvious that Kayla was delighted by her daughter's efforts.

Being able to talk to the kids always made things better.

And it always would.

'I am doing better, baby girl. How's things at home?"

Home was beginning to be all she thought of. It was all she wanted. And of course it was not really her baby girls home any more but with a little help from Steve they were soon talking about it as if Steph had been living there for years.

She told her mother that they had to go and do some groceries and that they had made a start on the washing and that Joey had had a good night's sleep in his own bed once more.

It was a lie – Stephanie hadn't realised till her dad faltered a little when he was translating.

She could only hope her mother had not picked up on it.

She did not need any more stress.

Still before she could question anything, there was a knock on the door and Doctor Jonas came into the room.

"Morning Kayla," he said brightly through a young medical student he had brought with him.

That was probably a good idea though Steve. If she had the medical lingo down in the sign then that was a definite plus for him. Though more and more had come back to him as he had taught the kids and chatted with Kayla lately, he had to admit to feeling a little rusty when it came to signing. Still, a sorer point of him said that they had always managed without anyone else before. He had been Mike and Marcus' translator when they had needed to tell Kayla something.

His eyes crossed to her briefly to see she was still sitting straight up in the bed.

"How do you feel? Not so bad? Good," the doctor said as he stood at the end of her bed. "You guys are going too pleased to know Kayla is on the mend. Though she is some way physically from being fully recovered, the injuries have begun to heal nicely now. Her ribs will take some time, but they can be managed now with Kayla as an outpatient and of course, though there were worries about inter cranial pressure when Kayla first arrived with us, that stopped being a concern some time ago."

"So what your saying is my mom's brain is back to normal?" Stephanie said wincing a little about how poorly she had phrased the question. Still she was sure what she and her dad needed now was not medical terminology, which only her mom would understand, but laymen's terms.

"Yes – there are no longer any worries on that score." Stephanie squeezed Kayla's hand. "What we have to focus on is your mothers hearing. Now we think that the force of the car crash was enough to once again damage the ear drum which was previously repaired."

"So you want to redo the surgery?"

Steve could recall it had been Jack who had found the specialist for them beforehand… he did not know if he was going to be practising still near thirty years later but if it was then this could still be put right. It was an option…

He sent Kayla a smile.

"Well, that is a possibility, but of course there have been advances in medicine since then." he explained. "The path which has been suggested after consultations with other doctors now would be more invasive but it would potentially allow Kayla to regain her hearing much quicker…"

Steve sat silent. If this was like last time around then he was sure he would have felt entitled to voice his opinion. In fact he knew that last time about then nothing would have stopped him doing that. But even though Kayla had asked him to come (she must have asked Maxine to get him to call him) he knew he had no right to an opinion here.

This was her health.

And he was not her husband.

Stephanie bit her tongue. The idea of her mother getting her hearing back as soon as she could filled her with joy – then all they had to wait was the return of her speech. Maybe there was a way she was going to get her voice back and –

And honestly that was what Stephanie wanted most of all.

However she knew that taking things a little slower might not be such a bad idea.

"But isn't it more important we go for what is best for mom over what's quickest?" Stephanie voiced her fathers concerned for him.

Steve held his tongue approving of what his little sweetness had asked nevertheless. somehow he felt things were – wrong.

He turned to face Kayla who was smiling kindly at the doctor who had been her friend for so many years.

But there was a silence behind the smile, and not just the obvious one.

Their eyes met briefly for she turned away before long. But it was at that moment he knew that if he sort a second opinion for her she would not argue against it.

"Of course it is but there is studies to say this would be the best way for ward – for your mother. She could get back to work –"

"But invasive surgery… there is always going to be a greater risk to invasive surgery, isn't there?" Stephanie questioned.

"Of course… but –"

"Well then, I guess we do not have to make any decisions today, do we?"

"Little sweetness, let the doctor finish," her father spoke for her first time.

He understood why she had cut him off.

He did not want to hear it either. He did not wish to as much as think about it.

But they had too… and then they would find their own way…

That was what their family did.

Once they had heard all the facts they were going to come to the best decision they could. But they would do it with the help of those they knew had their best interests at heart.

"Well, it is as Stephanie said, Kayla does not have to commit to anything today," said Doctor Jonas as they came to the end of their discussion about best day forward. "There is only one last thing to say – and that is that until the best way forward is decided upon there is very little more we can do for Kayla. We are going to want to keep her for tonight to run some final test but as soon as they are over… you can go home."

Kayla felt a smile come on to her face as she understood what he was saying.

At last – at long last, she was going to be able to go home.

Steve beamed himself at the look on her face. He remembered the time before, when Mike had come to say he could go home…

She had been so afraid. She had not wanted to go at all, and has seemed so small. Kayla had wanted to find somewhere to hide from – from everything and everyone. She had been terrified and she had been sad and it had torn at his heart. But just as so many things reminded her, this was not like before…

Not all of it…

Once more there eyes caught for just a moment… but no more…

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	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Stephanie felt her spirits rise on the way home from the hospital.

"It is going to be so, so good to have her home." she said, as she sat in the front seat of the car next to her dad.

"It certainly will… And you are going to be staying around Salem for a while?" Steve checked as they drove.

His daughter nodded. She wasn't leaving just as she got her mother home. She was surprised by how little she had thought of her life back in Chicago since she had been in Salem.

On the flight when she had been coming to the place she had been born, she had already been desperate to go back. But that had been due to fear, the fear of not knowing what she was arriving too. She was sure of it in hind sight. Now she was home she was not sure she wanted to go at all.

She had her family here, friends… why on earth would she leave them?

"I am. I know mom is going to need a bit of help to adjust to being back at home and with you moving into the apartment with Jack…" she sighed as she looked out the window…

"That's good, baby."

Steve nodded. He had not forgotten. And he knew Little Sweetness meant nothing by it…

Still, he took a deep breathe. And he knew no matter what anyone said to him, nothing was going to wreck that day.

His son felt the same when he got home.

It was only when Steve gave his boy the news that he was going to get his mom home that he realized he had not really seen Joey smile since he had been home. Not a smile which met his eyes any way.

The Johnsons were happy that night.

Steve knew they could be. Kayla was coming home. Stephanie was staying home. Joey was at home. And he was going to be moving i to a home with his brother.

It was only the last thing one that list that put a dampened on his spirits.

Till he thought too deeply. And then he wondered if there happiness really was more than surface deep.

There was still a lot of work to be done before he knew any of them could be truly happy.

Kayla was not yet one hundred per cent. No matter what route that she went it meant she was going to have to go back in to hospital for surgery. Then there was the fact she was still too terrified to talk through what happened. Stephanie was clearly wanting to accept him home for good but had her reservations, whether she was upfront about them or not. And while her staying in Salem was a good thing for the family, it was going to be a lot of upheaval for her. She was going to have to find a new job and settle somewhere where she was going to have to confront unhappy memories as well as better ones. Then there was Joey the night before…

No. perhaps Steve had been fooling himself. Perhaps there happiness was not as complete as he would like it to be.

For just five minutes he realised he needed some time – just to take breathe.

And so he found himself back at the Brady pub. After practically living on top of Bo for the last few years and the two of them flying home together when they had got the news, they had barely seen one another when they had got back.

He walked into the pub to find it was a fairly quiet evening – but then, it was a school and work night.

Bo was behind the bar when he entered to Steve's relief.

"It is good to see a friendly face," he said as he sat on a bar stole. "A beer, Beauregard."

"Well, you look as if you need it," he said to his friend.

Going over to the right side of the bar, he pulled two cold ones out of the fridge and slide one over to Steve, keeping the other for himself. It was so unsociable after all to let him drink alone and the two of them had been drinking partners all the way back to the merchant marine days, when the truth was they had never even always liked one another that much.

Still they had never allowed the other to drink alone.

They had been in Salem for just about two weeks. And they looked like they had been.

"Tell me all your news," Bo promoted.

Though the two of them had both been up to see Kayla regularly, neither of them had seen one another at the hospital for more than a 'how's it going man?'

Bo guessed that was because Steve was going in the evenings so that he and Kayla could curl up and be alone. The image of the two of them on the bed that first night that they had got back not yet left his head

"Well, Kayla is coming home tomorrow."

That was the main thing. The most important thing. Nothing could be more important than that so it seemed a good piece of news to lead with.

"Yeah, we got a call from the hospital. It is the first time I have seen mom smile since we got back."

"I thought the same thing about the kids earlier." Steve nodded. "So I am going to be going over the other side of the corridor and moving in with Jack."

That was not where he wanted to be.

"It could be worst."

"Could it?" he indulged in a selfish moment. He had never had them round Kayla or the kids – all along he said he had to be the strong one and he knew that was right. To be weak in front of them was not ok. This was not about him or his own selfish needs…

But he did not think he had to be strong for them just then.

"Yeah. It could." Bo's tone was what made him look up.

And he saw something in his eye – something he had seen before. God knows why but he was suddenly spoiling for a fight.

Better the two of them took it out on one another, Steve guessed.

"Ok, I'll play. How could it possibly be worst?"

"At least you're talking with Kayla and the kids."

"Talking… nice choice of words there buddy."

"Ooh come on Steve," said Bo as he came round the bar talking a swig as he did so. "you know what I mean. You are there with your family, they want you to be around," Bo pointed out. "You have been welcomed home!"

Meanwhile, he had spent about as much time with Ciara and Hope since he had been home as he had when he had been away. Hope had been as good as her word and had been in contact but the one time he had seen Ciara since the pub, she had been no more forth coming than she had been at that very first meeting.

And then just a few nights before he had had to stand and watch as the Johnsons family had eaten together. They had laughed and they had joked and… it had been everything he had wanted for him and his family.

Steve was his best friend and he so wanted to be kind but being away from his family was making his grumpy. In fact he was not sure it wasn't making him a little crazy.

And as much as he didn't want to be mean spirited about any of this, a small voice which he hated could not stop those little jealous thoughts infecting his mind.

Steve and Kayla were going through a lot. The moments of happiness either one of them got was a truly precious thing.

But he wanted them to. And he wanted to be a father to his daughter the way Steve was getting to parent his son.

"Is that what you think? That coming home has been a walk on a sunny day for me?!" Steve almost laughed in his friends face.

If only…

"Well, on the outside, I do have to admit it does not look so bad."

"Well, why don't I give you a little insight into what it has been like on the inside.

"My wi – your sister has lost her hearing. I can't hear her beautiful voice, which is something I am desperate to do. She can't hear me say how sorry I am for leaving her in the first place which is something I am even more desperate to do. In addition to that something has happened to her which she won't tell anyone, which she is too scared to tell anyone, which kills me. She got battered and bruised Bo… I can't help her, I can't make the pain stop and now she is putting all these walls up between us that I do not think I have the right to try and tear down when she is putting them up there for her own protection.

"So that's Kayla, how about we move on to my little sweetness? Stephanie seems to be happy I am home one minute and then she I tells me not to get her brothers hopes up that things might work out for me and his mom. She still doesn't trust me, and why the hell should she? I have let her down so many times. And my little dude… my baby boy is clearly trying to be a man before his time. That is until it is the middle of the night and he wakes up screaming from a night mare." He paused only to take a breathe. "Do you want me to go on?"

Bo however was beginning to look ashamed of himself. Deep down he knew it was had not been as easy for Steve as his jealousy had wanted him to believe. He was only sorry he had let them get the better of him.

He had been about to reply when Steve started up again.

"No – no, you know what I have started so I am going to finish. Justin is treating Adrienne like crap, only I can't do anything about that either as the two of us are only just getting back on an even footing to as she was pissed as hell I never told her about Jack. Now that dude is in love with his wife and his daughter loves him like crazy but JJ? There is another member of the family who is pissed as hell and I have no idea why."

Strangely enough Jack was the only one he was not too worried about. He had always had to worry about Jack.

Not anymore. Steve only hoped it was going to stay that way.

His mind turned away from his family and back to the matter in hand. Bo was now looking ashamed of himself as well as down cast.

Steve felt is heart ache a little, but as well as that, to Steve's great surprise, he felt better. He had got it all out of his head and it felt good to be able to voice his worries, even in anger… which he knew should not come as a great shock, not at all. After all Kayla's lessons about letting his feelings out….

That was what they both needed.

"Are things no better?" He asked. Steve did not look at his friend though… not yet.

"I just feel as if it is all so useless, as if I am useless. I have to give them some space but at the same time I have to do something…" Bo admitted. He just felt so disconnected. He had his mom and he loved her. But the rest of the family – they were moving and he was stuck still.

Kim had Shane got to on with and for all their differences, he knew Steve and Kayla would forge on side by side. It was just what they did.

The only way he might go on was if he did so with his wife and daughter.

And so until they were ready to think to have him back there was nothing to be done.

"So do it. I know it may seem as if life begins with Hope and Ciara but until it can, you need to find a new starting point."

"And where might I find one, oh wise one?" Bo asked his tone less pitiful but no less desperate.

"I do not know, that is up to you - ring up Shawn Douglas, do something for a member of the family, sort out a job. Sitting round here wishing you had my trouble is not going to get you anywhere."

Bo nodded. He knew he was right. But that did not make it any easier. He did not think there was anything on earth which could make what he had to do easier. "Do you think you could get another starting point? I mean asides from Kayla."

Steve shook his head. He would not but then he was not the one who had too.

"I know you, Bo. If I know you at all, I know you can do this."

Bo was not sure he had earned the faith of his friend. But he would take it all the same.

"I am sorry for what I said. I know none of this has been easy for you."

Steve nodded. "Don't think about it, I think I might be going a little mad to if I were in your shoes. You just have to - channel all that frustration, dude, somehow," he said as he took a swig of his beer. "You know your girls will com round."

He was Bo… she was Hope. Steve was pretty sure that meant she had to come round.

"I do not know about that, but you are a real friend."

And as long as he had his friends and family, then he could stay sane during the long wait. Hopefully.

X x x

The moon was high in the sky when Adrienne and Justin got back from Chez Rouge. It was in fact the sort of night which a women and her husband should have no trouble feeling like a pair of young sweethearts again. But then there was a little too much water under the bridge for either one of them to feel exactly like that again. In fact, when they had sat down to dinner, it had been a little awkward. There had never been that kind of tension between them over a dinner table before. But then they eased into each other's company, they had a little wine and the tension left them to their meal.

Rather than the state of their marriage, they had stayed on topics which could only be described as 'safe'. Her family, their sons…. They had looked for a common ground and they had found one. After that it had become considerably easier, they laughed and joked and for the first time in a long time he found he could not take his eyes off her. There was a light in her eyes he had not seen for quite some time… for too long he realised.

Maybe it was the security of having her family back together which had put it there.

He was not sure. But it was good to see.

On the way back to the car he grabbed her hand to hold. It was warm and it was loving and allowed her to admit to her own heart she had missed him.

And on the way home, she allowed herself to admit something else: she was looking forward to bed.

They had been together properly so little of late. Only once, in fact, when he had got back from Dubai been together and that was when they had found out Sonny was going to be ok. But that night it was going to be different. It was going to be just Justin and her in their own bed together because that was where they wanted to be.

She had thought they were in a place from which they were not going to be able to return. But as they kissed on the couch on their return home, as if they were teens, she felt the very pleasant and heady sensation that there was a chance she had been wrong.

"Oh honey," he murmured to her between kisses and Adrienne was sure she had the Justin of old back. He was not going to hurt her, he was just going to love her the way he always had done.

All it took was a look from him and all thoughts of Lucas left her.

She wanted Justin. She always had.

"Yes," she sighed contentedly as he slide is hand under her blouse.

The direction he was going said her bra was soon to be a thing of the past, at least for that day.

In the cold light of the next morning she knew she may very well have a few doubts over what they were doing just then which was why it was so lovely it was not yet morning. This was not going to fix their marriage but it might make them feel loved for a while.

"How about we go upstairs?" he suggested.

"Now that is an idea I like the sound of." she had been about to let him led the way when there was a knock on the door.

The only thing louder than her sigh was his growl of pure frustration.

 _Why?_

The two of them looked at each other both wondered if just ignoring it was an acceptable thing to do. But they had a son who had marital issues of his own and they had nieces and nephew who might need them at any given moment. Of course they had to get the door.

"You stay here," he said with a determinedness she had not heard in quite some time. They were just putting things on pause for a minute. That was all.

But if she stayed on the couch then she was going to be far from where she wanted to be which would right up next to him. And so she went to the door with him and was placing her hands on his sides even as he opened it, laying a claim to what had always really been hers.

Even as he opened the door, she was placing tender, teasing kisses to his neck.

There at the door stood a stunningly pretty blonde in her late twenties. She had wide brown eyes and a sweet smile.

It was only on her face for a moment before it feel off though.

"Oh you are so right, Justin. You wife does not seem to understand you at all," she stated.

Adrienne felt as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown over her.

So this was Elsa.

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	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

It was going to very much be a day of two halves, thought Steve as he looked at his own small packed bag which sat by the door.

By the end of the day the most lovely women in the world was going to be, at last, home in her own apartment and on the other hand, he would not He would be across the hall in a different apartment, with his brother.

Still Steve knew that day was going to go down as a win for the Johnsons.

Picking his bag up, he took a look around. Steph had gone ahead of him to get her mama ready and with great reluctance Joey had gone to school. It was just him and he was glad of it, for he would hate for them to see how down he was at the thought of leaving. He had not been here long… but he did not want to go.

This place could- _could_ have been home.

Still he had leave. And there was nothing else to it.

He shut the door behind him and made his way across the hall. He had decided to drop his bag off before going to the hospital. It was better he was sure just to get it done. Then he did not have to do it when Kayla was there…

Though he was going to be living there soon he knocked, mindful his brother (and truly himself too) were both still settling back into civvy street. Any surprising him, such as just wondering in, might be a little much for Jack.

It took Jack a moment to get to the doctor and Steve wondered if he was sleeping in but his brother had always been an early riser as long as he had known him.

He came to the door at last and it was clear he was up and ready and ready for the day – but it was also obvious he had not slept much.

"Morning."

"Morning yourself. You ok?"

"I am," he said in a way that implied there was someone who very much was not ok. "I know you have to get off to the hospital but can you come in for a minute."

He nodded and did so.

As soon as he was in the living room, he saw why he had been asked to go in. There on the couch sat his sister, looking as if the world had ended.

"Oh baby," he sighed as he moved to her side where he took her in his arms. Somehow Steve did not need to be told what had gone on. There was only one person who could upset her like this.

And he was ready to kill him.

X x x

"You were up with the birds today," said Caroline from behind the bar at the Brady pub, as she saw her son walk in.

It was true Bo had made an early start.

After his chat with Steve, he had decided his friend was right. He had to start trying to make progress. And he had to do it with or without his wife and daughter… and so he had decided it was high time he really begun to make good on his promise to the rest of the family .

And as far as he was concerned, given all she had been through, Kay was a great place to start, and so he had gone out that day with the purpose not to return till he could help her.

And he had not.

"I was. I had to go get myself registered for a session of sign language course."

He watched as his mom's eyes softened.

"Your sister is going to be so grateful."

Bo nodded but inwardly though she should not have to be.

It was all on them now to be there for her and there was nothing in the world which could make him feel different to that.

In truth he was still a little angry that Hope, himself and Shawn Douglas had not come back from their trip when Kayla had lost her hearing before. In fact, he was more than a little angry with the way the whole family had dealt with the situation.

Kayla had not had the support from the family which she should have. They should all be able to talk to her now but only Steve and Kimberly had stepped up to the plate last time.

The way he had heard it his Ma and Pa had not even tried to learn to sign. If it was Shawn Douglas or Ciara in that situation then he knew himself and Hope could not stand not being able to communicate with their children… and as a result they would do whatever they had to in order to do so. He just did not get why they had not been the case for his folks.

But at the end of the day, he was aware that no good could come from dragging all of that up. They had to move forward.

"I hope so."

But he did not want her gratitude.

A single true smile would be enough.

X x x

"My mom is coming home today," Joey told Ciara as he caught up with her at break time.

"That is really good news!" Ciara's smile was genuine. So much of what had gone on of late for the Brady family had resulted in bad news or at the very least…. News that made her feel confused and conflicted. At a time like this, the family should be pulling together and she had just been feeling… disconnected.

"Yeah it is," Joey beamed… but there was something which he was holding back. And Ciara knew it. Only she and JJ would pick up on it, knowing him as well as they did.

"So what is still wrong?" she had thought with her Aunt Kayla going home everything would be looking good for Joey. She waited for a while as he found the right way to say what he wanted, knowing this was not going to be easy for him. Her cousin was already a man of few words.

"Nothing – not really. It is just my dad is going to go move in with my Uncle Jack."

An uncle who was not even welcome in his own home.

"Well, what is so bad about that?" it was not as if he had had time to get used to him being about. It was the look on his face which told her she was being far too callous. That Joey _had_ got used to his dad being about.

"Sorry – are you going to miss him?"

Joey shrugged but his answer was already a given. Steve had been there when he got up and when he went to bed every night since he had got back. If he had had any worries, then he had known his father was going to try and help soothe them. He'd miss him.

Joey knew he might be being slightly dramatic. His dad wasn't even leaving the building, just going across the hall. But still…

"I guess so. What about Uncle Bo?"

Ciara had seen him again since the first time in the pub but there had been no real progress to speak of. And now she felt a little jealous. Because if the truth was known she did want to spend a little time with him. It felt a little disloyal it admit, but she and her mother had spent a little time away from Aiden and Chase and it was making things easier and harder all at once. It was Ciara's turn to shrug.

Joey smiled slightly sadly. They had been through so much together – at the same time. The same heart ache. It had left them with a bond they did not share with anyone else, not even their own siblings.

They could go through this together too, he thought.

"Just give him chance Ciara. He might surprise you."

Ciara nodded. The only problem was that he might surprise her either… he might not surprise her at all….

X x x

"I am sorry it took me a while to get here," said Steve as he finally got to Kayla and Stephanie.

He had said he was going to pick them up at about eleven but now it was much nearer half part.

Jack and Adrienne had not wanted to keep him from them, but once they had got talking that had proved tricky because he never wanted to leave his kid sister when she was hurt but that was what he had had to do.

Damn Kiriakis to hell.

"Are you ok?" Stephanie asked. She had been getting aggravated with her dad for being late if the truth was known, but that faded away as she saw how stressed he was. Steve had never been good at hiding his agitation. And there was clearly a reason, not an excuse, behind him being late to get to them.

'It doesn't matter,' Kayla signed back in agreement with her daughter as she got off of the bed when she had been sitting on. She had picked up on it too. 'What is bothering you?'

"Bothering me baby?" Steve signed and spoke. He shook his head. "What could bother me today? You're coming home, sweetness! You ready to get out of here?"

Kayla nodded as carefully stood up, watching as Steve picked up her bag. She wished he wouldn't do that – pretend when they could all see he was lying. But she would get it out of him.

Steph came to her side and the two of them held hands. Whatever was going on with her dad, it'd be ok…

Kayla was glad the two of them had had a little time alone that morning – it had been girls together. And she had needed that after what had been a relatively sleepless night.

For the first time since the accident it had seemed to her they were finding a way forward. That she was meant to find a way forward. And that meant surgery and procedures but it also meant going home and she wanted all of those things, as she knew they were going to give her life back to her…

But it had been in the middle of the night before that she had been able to label part of what she had felt as 'fear'.

Her life was going to be so different on so many different levels when she went home. And there was nothing she could do but face it.

The one saving grace was she knew she had a great circle of friends and family about her to help her deal with the transition… the kids were learning to sign and Kimberly was home and looked set to be going nowhere.

Which was all great.

But she was going to have to live in her apartment and she was going to have to do it in silence. There had been moments in hospital when it hadn't been so bad. When she had not had to listen to the endless beeping or hear her family members cry.

But when she got home she was not going to be able to hear the kettle boiling, or dance around the kitchen to music or even know when doors were opening and shutting.

She was scared.

And she was vulnerable.

But she knew she could do this. She had done it before and she was going to do it again.

She could, however, not do it alone.

She looked at Steve and his false smile and wished thongs were very different to the way they were.

The drive home took no more than twenty minutes door to door and stepping in through to the apartment felt wonderful.

It had been way too long.

Her sigh of relief was audible.

"Mama," Stephanie's sighed as she spoke. "I am going to get you some tea, do you want anything else?"

Kayla shook her head as she thanked her daughter and then sat down on the couch. She did not know what she would have done without her girl just then. She really didn't.

She was so glad she had her.

She turned to see her daughter's father. He had thought she was distracted and once more his expression had clouded over. It kept doing that. He would try to hide his troubles from her but somehow he was not very good at that, something for which she was grateful for.

At the turn of the tide, when she had need him most he had found a way back to her. And though she knew she was going to keep to her promise to herself she had made at the hospital – to not depend on him – she hoped that was not going to go two ways.

She wanted him to confide in her. After all there had been a time when his troubles had been hers and vice versa. And for all the troubles… they were good times.

He may have been late to pick her up but he had come. And it was as she remembered that that another memory came to her mind unbidden… the one of him holding her all night at the hospital.

But then he saw she was looking at him. And smile crept on to his face and she knew for then he was shut off, at least for then.

But she knew him. And whatever it was – she'd find out, whether she could hear it or not.

'Sweetness, can I talk to you about what we talked to about Jonas?' he signed to her as he sat on the coffee table in front of her to make sure she could easily see his lips as well as his hands.

She nodded.

'I want to take a bit of time to consider what he said.' She admitted.

She was not afraid she was not going to get her hearing back. She had done it before and she was going to do it again. That was becoming a little bit of a mantra for her.

 _She had got through this before – she had got through all of it before. And she could do so again._

"Yeah. And how about we explore some other options to? I mean – just if you want too."

She took his hands in hers for a moment. He was being sweet that day. She could see much of the young Steve in him, the nervous energy right then that it broke her heart.

'I asked you to come to the appointment. I want your input on this."

'So you are not going to be mad if I tell you I have already rang another doctor."

'Depends who it is, I guess.' Kayla replied with a curious look in her eye.

"Doctor Homey.' He grinned boyishly.

Marcus Hunter was coming back to town.

She felt a smile spread across her face.

'Marcus?'

He nodded.

Now that was the best news she had had in a while. Marcus had been there best friend when they were young and he had been there for her without question before when she had been without her hearing before.

He had helped get her better.

'When is he going to get here?" she could not wait to see him.

'Fly's in tomorrow.'

If the two of them had not been in such a weird place then she would have thrown her arms about him then there. But they were.

And so she just smiled.

But that smile settled a contentment with in him. No matter how bad things had got when he had first got back… she was ok now. Or at least she was going to be.

That was everything to him - just everything that mattered.

Before he even knew how to stop himself, he leaned over and kissed the top of her forehead.

When he pulled back he saw a look on her face which he did not think he could quite read.

She wasn't unhappy but still…

'Sorry sweetness. I am just so happy your back.'

She nodded. She had got that memo.

'I should go.' He signed.

'Why?'

'Because you need your space with the kids baby, you just got home… you probably want a nap or a shower or something and I need to go get settled across the way there with Jack.'

 _And Adrienne…_

But there was a look in her eye.

And he knew she wasn't happy. She had been when he said Marcus was coming home but now she wasn't.

And he did not like to think that he was the one who made it that way.

'Kayla, what's wrong?'

She shrugged. He gave her a moment to gather her thoughts and then she begun to sign. 'What if there is something wrong in the night and I can't hear it?'

'What do you mean?'

'With Joey?'

He was not a baby any more but he was always going to be their baby. And if the two of them could not communicate or she could not help him.

And then there was the phone ringing – who'd answer it… or the smoke alarm going off…

She had forgotten she realised… what it was like to be deaf in the world outside of the safety of the hospital.

When she was with people who understood what was going on then that lessened the fear. Last time around, just being in the same room with Steve and Kim had made her feel better knowing that if she had a problem then they were going to be able to understand what she was trying to tell them.

Bless the kids, they were leaning sign but it was not the same with Steph and Joey. It did not matter what was going on with her… she was there mama. She was not meant to lean on them, it was meant to be the other way round, always.

And then there was the other thing. It did not matter how far she and Steve had grown apart, she trusted he would always keep her safe, physically at least. If he was about then no one who she didn't want near her would get close…

'Stay.' She signed before she was able to stop herself.

'I… I can stay for tea… or I can stay… just stay…' he nodded... there was no way he was going to leave her if she invited him to stay.

If she wanted him there for good, then he would be. Their eyes met and the understanding went unsaid between them. He did not have the physical, mental or emotional strength to walk away from her. Not when she wanted him there.

'The sofa isn't too uncomfortable is it?'

Steve felt his heart swell. She really had asked him to stay. She wanted him around. If she had asked him to sleep on the floor without a pillow or a blanket then he would have.

'The sofa is fine, sweetness.'

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	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"Hey, here he is – the third musketeer," said Jack as Steve came into the apartment.

The elder of the two brothers game a wry smile as he realized he was going to have to tell his siblings at his change in circumstances.

His first concern though was to check on his sister.

She was sitting on the sofa but she looked better then she had done earlier that day. She had obviously changed and had a shower – but still she looked as if she was in a state of shock.

That did not stop her trying to put a brave face on her pain though. She had always tried to do that.

"How is Kayla? You guys get her back from the hospital ok?" Adrienne checked, as he sat by her side and gave her a hug.

"Yeah – yeah, we did. I think she is just looking forward to school let out time."

Adrienne grinned. "Of course she is."

If she was anything like Adrienne would be she was probably bursting to have her baby back in her arms.

And she knew they were similar in some ways.

"So is that why you have come over? To unpack before Joey gets back?" Jack asked.

There was no doubt in his mind that Steve was going to spend a lot of time between the two apartments from now on. They were both where his family lived and even if he could not be with Kayla and the kids all the time then he was still going to be going over to help them out whenever he could.

Or at, least that was what he thought until Steve gave a sigh.

"Actually guys there has been a bit of a change of plan. Kayla wants me to sleep over there, just to make sure nothing - nothing goes bump in the night I guess." He explained. "I hope the two of you don't mind?"

"Mind…. Steve that is great news," Adrienne said as her own sorrows were the moment forgotten. She wrapped her arms tighter about him.

This was a positive thing.

"Yeah – that is really something!" Jack agreed.

If they were living in the same place may be they could work towards something else too.

"It is – I am not sure how happy little sweetness is going to be about it all but I could not say no to Kayla."

"Of course you couldn't. You have to put her first."

He nodded, he appreciated that. "Listen, nothing changes here. I can still pay my half of the rent of this place until Jack and – and, you baby, have your selves sorted." He said as he gave his sister a kiss on the forehead.

"I think that may take a while," admitted Jack. He was yet to see hide or hair of his son. There was no reason to think he was going to get to live in the Horton homestead soon.

"And I do not think I am going to be going anywhere soon either." Adrienne sighed.

She did not see how she and Justin were ever going to come back from the night before. She had been stupid to think they were on the return journey to a nice place when the truth was they had never been so far on the outs. And it had been so embarrassing to be caught by Elsa like that, all over Justin…

She must have looked so desperate.

"Well it is like I say, as long as it takes. And you never know Kayla might get sick of me and I might find myself over here sometime soon."

"With the rest of the washed up Johnson kids," Jack murmured.

But Adrienne shook her head. She knew her sister in law and she knew her brother.

And she knew this was only ever going to end one way.

"No, you won't."

They weren't like her and Justin. It might take some time and some fights but Kayla and Steve were going to make it.

X x x

'I asked your father to stay here with the three of us.' signed Kayla as Stephanie put her second cup of tea down I front of her.

Unlike the one before though, this one was iced instead of hot.

Stephanie hesitated for a moment before she nodded her head. She could not deny to herself that she did not want her mom and dad to get things confused between them once again. Them starting back up could only confuse matters, as it always had done in the past.

And why on earth should this time be any different?

But these were thoughts which she could reveal to her father alone. Her mother was still …well, she did not want to put any more pressure on her when she did not have too.

'I hope you don't mind.'

'Why should I mind?' she asked. 'If you want him here.'

'I do.'

She had always wanted Steve by her side. The two of them….. She had wanted that for a long time.

She put her head in her hands for a minute as she felt the same familiar swirl of emotions tumble round in her. The joy to have him close. The fear he would leave her again. The anger he left to begin with. And then the everlasting love which had ruled most of her adult lift.

How did one sign all of that?

All she knew as him being here made some sort of sense to her. It made the world make sense.

She could remember a time not so long ago when Stephanie had accused her of being pathetic over Steve. When their daughter had been a teen she had had cause to be sick of hearing how special their love had been.

But all Kayla wanted was just one more miracle from it.

'You can tell me if you are unhappy about any of this.'

Stephanie shook her head. Her mother was home. How could she possibly be unhappy?

If the last few weeks had taught her anything it was that she had to pick and choose her battles. And she was not going to pick this one.

Kayla had been entirely focused on her daughter until she saw Stephanie's eyes turn to the door and a wide smile spread on her face.

She may not have been able to hear him in the room, but she knew when her son came in to it.

She may not have hear him call her name and say how happy he was she was home to feel it. Joey stayed snuggled into her side a long time after he had got back from school, well past the time he normally would have gone off to his room to play video games. Kayla's ribs ached long before her son shifted from her side but she refused to break the moment. And so when Steve returned to the apartment, to find mother and son wrapped up on one another and Stephanie sitting in the arm chair next to them with a book and a diet coke, he felt an over whelming peace in his soul, the like of which he had not experience since his son was a tiny baby.

And he had been such a tiny little peanut.

Steve shut the door, took up residence in the opposite arm chair to his daughter and felt his heart swell with pride and Joey and Kayla signed to one another.

There was still a lot Joe had to learn… but learn he would.

X x x

Hope had just got a coffee when she was joined by her daughter in the kitchen.

"Hey you, you how was school?" she asked with a smile.

"It was good," she said with a shrug. "Did you know Aunt Kayla was getting released from the hospital today?"

"I didn't till I go to work then I saw Uncle Roman. He said grandma is really excited."

"Joey was too."

"I bet," she said as she head over to the kettle. "Hot chocolate?"

Ciara nodded. She was definitely going to need something to get her through this conversation. She had a feeling her mother had sensed that though. Begrudgingly she would admit her mother was good at doing that. Knowing when she needed stuff even when she had not known she had needed it herself.

But she needed a run up to this…

"So how was your day?"

"Oh, ok honey, nothing really happened. Just desk work, it was kind of boring actually," Hope admitted as she leaned on the breakfast bar opposite her daughter. "So… you going to tell me what you really want to say, Ciara Alice?"

A small embarrassed smile crept on to the little girl's cheeks at being double named but she did not protest.

The two of them were alone after all.

"Is it ok…. I mean… It's just because –"

"Honey," Hope smiled as she put her hands on her daughters. "just say it."

"I want to spend some time with dad has weekend. Like real time. I am not going to yell at him or anything, I just want to hang out with him for a bit. Is that ok?"

Hope felt her lips tug into a sad smile. Sad because she had thought for a moment it was not going to be ok.

"I have no problem with you spending time with your dad. In fact I think it would be really good for you."

Deep down she was sure she needed Bo's reassurances. Hers weren't working any more. Ciara needed to know her father loved her and she had to hear it for him, even if she didn't know it.

"Really?"

"Really." She said as she leant over and gave her a kiss on the head. "I know the last few years have been so, so tough on you."

"On us," Ciara corrected her. Everything that they had had to go through with Bo they had gone through together.

Hope sighed and smiled, and then kissed her daughter on the top of her head again. For all the fact her little girl could be a cheeky and even petulant young girl, she was also as sweet as pie some times.

And she was kind of her best friend. She could only hope the two of them were going to carry on like this as Ciara headed in to her teen years.

"So can I ask you what changed your mind, what brought this on?" asked Hope.

"I just had a chat with Joey and he thought it might be a good idea."

Hope nodded. That made sense.

"He can be a pretty smart kid."

"When he wants to be," teased Ciara.

Hope kissed Ciara again, only to be swatted away this time as the moment had passed. With that, Hope pilled out her phone.

"Shall I see if your daddy is free Saturday then?"

Ciara nodded. Hope made the call. And Bo jumped at the chance.

X x x

"You know when the two of us were in Dubai I think we shared a smile about once every ten seconds… but now you can barely look at me," said Elsa as she sat on the bed.

She had thought her coming here was going to be such a great surprise for Justin. She had thought he was going to have missed her and relieved to have her in his arms again.

But that was not the case.

"Of course, I can look at you," he said as he turned to face her to prove his point.

"Are you saying there is not someone who you would rather see here?"

Then he could not look at her.

She felt something in her break shattered.

"Of course, I do not want to see anyone else," he lied.

She heard it, but still she could not let go.

"You know the two of us love each other – and that means we are going to be able to work this out."

They had said they loved each other. Over and over.

So it did not matter if they were living close to the woman who would be his ex-wife… they'd make it.

Maybe it was something in her tone that, made him feel a sympathy for her then because he got up, came to her side and cupped her cheek, which she was glad of. For just a moment she could see him.

The old Justin. Her Justin.

Justin gave her a smile, a kiss on the head but did not agree.

Something in Elsa's world shifted… and she did not know if she was going to be able to shift it back… but she wanted to. Very much…

"Listen, I have to go out on business this afternoon. Why don't you get to know the house? You could have a swim," he suggested as he picked up his brief case, kissed her forehead.

"Ok."

He did not wait for her to add anything else before he left the room.

Once outside of it, Justin felt the same familiar panic he had felt the night before when Elsa had turned up. That was not meant to have happened, needless to say.

He could not lie – or at least not to himself – he had enjoyed what the two of them had shared in Dubai. It had been special to him and she had been special to him.

But she was a part of the job and he should not have followed him home.

Adrienne. She was his real life… his wife. Them, their long history, their boys…

She was everything.

He would have to find a way of ending it with Elsa before he could started repairing the damage. That was not going to be an easy job – especially considering that Jack and Steve were around. They had always been protective of their sister, especially the latter.

He might have been a stupid man, but he was not so stupid as to not realise the truth.

To the Johnson clan, he was going to be public enemy number one.

He sighed, and had been just about to leave the mansion when he heard a voice clear behind him.

"Uncle Vic?"

He did not turn to face him. He did not need to in order to see the look on his face.

"A school boy error Justin…. Bringing the mistress home." Kiriakis' weren't meant to be smarter than that. Justin wasn't sure what Maggie would make of that attitude but he knew he had to with stand the verbal beating all the same. Still, as ever, Victor kept it short and to the point. "Get your little tramp out of this house."

Justin nodded. The family house was for the family. Victor might not like Adrienne, but raising four Kiriakis boys had meant she had earned her place.

Ciara came swimming here, Arianna Grace was baby sat here and this was where Maggie now held court for any Hortons in need.

This was no place for Elsa and the ache in Justin's heart drove that home to him better than his uncle ever could. He left the house with only one question on his mind.

How to save his crumbling marriage.

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	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Steve did not really believe Kayla had asked him to stay in her apartment until he woke up on the sofa the next day. He had been sleeping there the whole time but he was never as comfy as it was that night.

Of course, the one down side of sleeping in the living room meant you were bound to get up earlier than if you had a bedroom but he had never been a late riser.

He awoke to the noise of the movement in the kitchen. There was crockery being moved about as well as cupboard doors gently opening and shutting. He wondered if it was Kayla and if she needed any help crossed his mind… with that thought he was up on his feet.

But when he got to the kitchen, he saw it was not Kayla but their daughter.

"Morning, little sweetness," he said as he ran a hand through his hair.

She mumbled her reply and then gave him a smile.

"How did you sleep?" she asked.

"Not too bad," he said as he sat down at the breakfast bar. There was a silence for just too long… "Ok. Cards on the table time. You're not happy with me still being here."

She had no idea how she was meant to answer that.

The little girl in her was. The little girl in her was absolutely delighted.

But the woman and adult had big reservations.

She didn't want any of them to get used to something which was not going to last.

"Mom asked you to stay," Stephanie said with a level head. "So I am not going to say anything against it. But –"

"But you don't want them to rely on me."

Steph shook her head.

"It is not that – I just… I can be here for Joe during the night and I don't want any of us…. To get hurt." He knew that. She had said it already.

Stephanie knew her parents did not want her to have to deal with her the responsibility of her brother in the middle of the night in the unlikely event something did go wrong. It was not as if he was a baby but still…

"I am not setting out to hurt anyone. And I won't make the same mistakes." Not again. The mistakes of the past were staying there.

She nodded. The problem was he never did set out to hurt anyone.

But it hadn't stopped it happening again and again.

It happened in the past.

"I should hope not," she tried to lighten the mood. She knew she had to at least try and see this from her mother's point of view. "but I do have to go back up to Chicago to tie up a few loose ends so may be it is a good thing you are here," she conceded.

"Well, you are not going to be heading out there today, are you?"

She shook her head. For that day at least she was not going to be going anywhere.

"Good, because your uncle Marcus is going to be here in a while!"

Stephanie felt a smile cross her face. Marcus had always been her favourite of her parent's friends, and she had a lot of love for him too.

"You're kidding me right?"

"No – no, he is going to be here in the flesh."

"And I take it he is coming back to help mom?"

"Yeah, that was why I called him. I thought he might be the second opinion we know and trust."

She gave a nod. He was that all right.

"I had better go get dressed then!"

X x x

It had been near a quarter of a century since Marcus Hunter had been in Salem. That could only be called far too long, especially given that this was one of the only places in the world he had found he could call home. It was also the only place where he did have a family to call his own, thus when he had got a call to return it had brought him straight back.

Steve, after all, was not the brother he had never had. He was the brother he had _always_ had and the two of them could not be tighter.

But he was not coming back just for Steve. He had a strong friendship with Kayla in her own right and since his Homey had told all that had gone on, he had been worried about her.

They had been through such a lot together over the years.

After all, he had been one to get her better after the Deveraux's had been poisoning her. She and Steve had been towers of strength for him when they had all gone to South Carolina. And then in the darkest time in both of their lives they had had one another to turn too.

Honest to god, Marcus did not know what he would have done without Kayla and Stephanie when they had lost Steve. He was kind of sure in fact that he would have gone a little mad.

As it was lines had been blurred and crossed due to the over whelming grief.

But they had got through it and they had stayed close all the years when she too had moved out and away from Salem. In fact it had been to him she had turned when she had first thought of training to be a doctor.

Their long history had brought him back to the two of them when they needed him most… he was only sorry it had taken something so extreme to get him to return. He should have paid a visit to Kayla and to Joey long ago. He had just got so caught up in and with work.

Work which had once more lead him to cross paths with one Mr Steven Earl Johnson.

Still, he was now on sabbatical from all that and he was going to stay for as long as it took for them to get Kayla all better. That was a promise.

X x x

By the time Kim and Shane got to the pub for lunch that day, they gave the appearance of having been pulled through a hedge backwards.

Or having gone through a storm.

One they would name Hurricane Eve.

What was meant to be a nice catch with their eldest child had turned in to a shouting match.

Just ten minutes after they had got their granddaughter had arrived. She had had to pick up something which she had forgot when she had moved out and the tension in the room had been almost tangible, a physical presence from the moment which she walked in. But it was when her mother had tried to act as if there was nothing all that wrong between them had Paige had lost it.

As much as she was always going to abhor what Eve had done with JJ and to Paige as well, without really knowing why, Kim had felt a little sorry for Eve as her daughter had given a list of her crimes to her dad.

Shane's pride and his love had meant ever such a lot to her ever since she had come in to their lives. Kim would partly always see the desperate teen when she looked at her, with her ribbons and masses of hair.

When Paige had said what she had done, Eve had tried to defend herself which Kim could only call a tough gig. As for Shane he had just been blindsided by it all.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Flabbergasted," He admitted.

He did not know how his daughter could do something like this. He knew he was a long way from being dad of the year himself but he did not think he had ever hurt one of the kids like this. In fact he knew he hadn't as he would know it if he had.

"Just take it easy." His wife soothed.

But as he tried to imagine the pain he knew his granddaughter was in, Shane knew one thing he was not going to be was taking it easy.

"How on earth could Eve do it?"

And he swore to god that when he got his hands on young Jack Junior Deveraux it was not going to be a pretty site at all.

They had to stay put. Shane saw that then more than ever just then, they were required by the entire family. Yet the option of just taking Kim and running back to LA had never looked so good – even though deep down he knew it was no option at all.

"We are going to get through this the way we got being thing else."

"That is not the point is it?" Shane sighed at his wits end. This was one thing which they should not have to get through. It should never have happened.

She agreed gently as she put one hand over his.

There was not a lot to say.

"The two of you look as if you dropped a dollar and found a cent," said Caroline upon seeing her daughter and son in law.

Somehow, she did not think that was so far off of the truth Kim mused.

"We just got back from seeing Eve and… well, Paige turned up."

"Well, say no more," the land lady nodded.

Her daughter looked at her in surprise.

"Do you mean to say you know what has gone on between them?"

"I am afraid your Paige has not made much of an attempt to keep it quiet."

That definitely matched what they had just witnessed.

"Why don't I get you a pot of tea?"

Shane nodded in thanks to his mother in law. That did sound like a bit of a good idea.

"So… house hunting tomorrow?" Kim murmured softly.

Once more, Shane nodded. It was quite clear there nice quiet life was about to give way to some thing which was a bit more chaotic.

X x x

"Oh my god, you have no idea how good it is to see you!" laughed Stephanie.

As soon as she had heard the knock on the door, she had gone running to it, knowing when she opened up it was going to be Marcus Hunter standing there.

She was not disappointed.

Her father's oldest friend was stood there in a pair of jeans, T Shirt and a light summer jacket. He looked a little tired, but happy – and only happier once the door was opened.

Her uncle laughed as she jumped into his arms and he could not resist spinning her round. He had always done so when she had been a little girl. But, of course, she was no little girl any more. As hard as it was to admit to himself, Steve's and Kayla's little sweetness was a grown woman. Which _was_ difficult to admit to himself when he could swear it was just the day before that they had found her in Australia and brought her home…

"Not half as good as it is to see you, how you doing, baby girl?" he asked.

He put her down and she drew back for a moment, "I – I am doing ok. You know the last few weeks have been a little scary but things are on the up now."

He nodded. He got that. "I wish you guys had called me sooner. I would have got the first plane I could, I am so sorry I wasn't here."

"We know you would have and I am sorry we did not let you know sooner too," she admitted. "There has just been so much going on."

"Well how about you let me in and then you can tell me all?" he suggested.

She nodded. As soon as Marcus was in the apartment he was pulled into another long embrace. This time by Steve.

He had heard his Homey's voice he had come straight to him and he did not think he had ever been so glad to see him, except maybe back in the hospital when he had been afraid that Kayla was being poisoned. He had turned out to be right and just as he had known he was going to, Marcus had helped him get Kayla all better.

He really was the best friend he had ever had.

"Thank you so much for coming dude, we need you here," Steve said as he held on to him.

"The way that I heard it, you needed me hear long ago. Now what did you think you were doing, holding out on calling me like that?" Marcus scolded lightly.

It was as Steve drew back that he shook his head. Now that Marcus mentioned it, he found he did not have an even nearly decent enough answer for him.

Steve looked ashamed of himself as they released one another. 'Womb to tomb' was so much more than a phrase to them. It wasn't a silly motto which they had made up when they had been young boys in the orphanage together.

It was an oath, a bond. It had got them through the worst of times and had been there as a promise during the best of times.

Steve realised if Marcus had been through half of what they had been through lately and then waited till after the event to call for help then he would give him hell for that.

Thankfully, if Marcus knew anything at all it was that Steven Earl did not think straight when something was up with Kayla Caroline. It was only when she was well that he could be clear sighted about anything.

"I don't know," Steve admitted as Marcus put a hand round the back of his head. Affection had never been short between the two best friends. It was not so long since they had seen one another – but it had been too long at the same time.

"And here is my little homey, put it there partner," Marcus said as Joe came up to greet him.

He was as little sad to say he had not managed to build the bond he had with his friend's younger child that he had got to have with their elder. Of course, when Steph had been a tiny little baby they had all lived in the same town and they had moved in the same circles and they had been in and out of each other's houses and it had been easy.

But it had not been like that for Joe. When he had been born Marcus had been living in a different city to him all together.

Still here was a chance to set that to rights.

And the two of them knew one another well enough to share a high five.

Then Marcus greeted the last member of the family.

Kayla gave him a slightly shy smile as he approached her, embarrassed. The last thing in the world she ever liked to do was cause any disruption to someone else's life and he had flown into help her. But it was great was to see the face of an old friend. A best friend.

She reached up and put her arms about him as he did the same and for a moment they just held each other.

"God it is good to see you, girl," he said as he kissed the two of her forehead. He had not been here for the event but he was all too aware of how close they had all come to losing her. Painfully so.

The two of them broke apart after a long moment.

Steve realised in that instant that Marcus was maybe the only man in the world he could bare to see hold Kayla so without feeling the fiery hot jealous which ran through his veins at the thought of her and any other man but him.

Their long years of friendship had secured that.

Still Marcus kissed the crown on her forehead one more time before he really let go.

He was really there. And she was really there. And they were all really there together, and that was going to take a bit of getting used too.

As he realised Kayla, Marcus sighed. It was good to be home.

"Why don't I get you a drink?" Stephanie offered.

"That would be awesome," Marcus nodded appreciatively. "Then the four of you can sit me down and give me the low down."

For that day a talk was going to be enough, he thought to himself. In time he was going to want to see all of Kayla's medical notes from the crash. But what he needed more than anything just then was just a little time to readjust to being back, not that it was going to take long.

He sat on the sofa, Kayla sat by his side and she soon leaned in to him. He knew if by hell or high water he could help her, then he would.

X x x

"Morning grandma!" said Ciara as she raced in to the pub.

It was Saturday morning, which of course brought the weekend and no school. After she and her mom had had their little chat about her going to see her dad, they had called up Bo. He had been only too delighted when Hope had asked if he was free to spend a little time with their daughter that day.

Even if he had not been then he would have cancelled whatever he had been doing to make time for her. Nothing was more important…

"Morning my darling," said Caroline as the two of them shared an embrace. "Now a little birdy came and told me you were going to come and spend a little time with your father today, is that right?" she asked with a smile.

As glad she was to have Bo home it had been hard on her to see her youngest child struggle with his own emotions. She could not argue against the way he had been treated for it had been all of his own making. But she was his mother and it had been hard for to watch all the same.

"It is," she said almost shyly.

A pounding of footsteps on the way down to the bar told Caroline that her son had heard the voice of his daughter and was now racing down to meet her.

And sure enough within seconds, Bo was there.

But this time was not going to like the last time. He had promised himself that. He had to start playing this smart if he was going to win her round to him again.

So even if he had raced down to the bar, he did not race across to Ciara when he saw her. When he had hugged her the time before - it had just all been too soon and too rushed for his little one. This time he took the chance to nod to Hope in greeting before he crossed to their child and simply kissed her head in greeting.

"How you doing, little one?" he asked, the familiar endearment slipping out before he could stop it.

Ciara did not seem to mind though.

"Good."

"That's good," he said as he turned to Hope.

"And how are you?"

"Well," she nodded civilly. There was no need to be unkind about these things for as long as he was in town. She knew the two of them should sit down and work things through. She had to put her own hurt aside for the sake of their child. But thankfully for her that was not the right time to do it, with Ciara and Bo having scheduled a met up.

"Right, well, you just ring me when you are ready to come home ok?" she said to her daughter.

She had nothing to do later that day so there wasn't anything for Ciara to race home for if she was having a good time with her dad. Ciara was more than old and capable enough of working out her own visitation schedule with her dad.

"Will do," Ciara said as she gave her mother a kiss good bye.

"Have fun, baby."

Ciara nodded as she crossed to Bo's side.

"So what do you want to do today, kiddo? We can do anything you want…."

"Well, at first I thought maybe we could go to the mall so you could buy me three years' worth of birthday and Christmas presents."

Caroline could not resist a snigger. No matter what Ciara was not going to make this easy on Bo.

"And then?" her father asked.

"It turned out to be a kind of nice day so instead I thought we could go to the park and throw a baseball around? I – it's kinda silly, but I want to an umpire and Rafe has been helping me out but he has been a little busy –"

"I do not think that is silly in the least."

And deep down nor did his daughter. But it had felt strange – and if she was honest, a little scary - to confide something like that on her dad again. So she had wanted to make it sound less than what it was so if he had thought it was a silly idea then it was not going to hurt her so much.

But she still knew her dad well enough to know the tone in his voice apparently. And the look in his eye.

"You don't?"

"Baby I think you would make a wonderful umpire… I mean not always fair but which one is?"

"I do tend to play favourites."

She was not going to lie.

Bo sniggered. "Right – to the park it is."

"Yup. I have got my mitt and a ball in my bag so all you need is money for ice cream."

"Well, you guys have got a plan by the sounds of so I am going to leave you to it," smiled Hope.

Chase had a basketball game or something which Aidan was going to watch that day and so she was going to head to the station. If she was lucky then she was going to get through a pile of paper work.

What surprised her was thought if she had had the chance then she would have jumped at the chance to join Bo and Ciara.

That was all far too complicated for then. there was no way then two of them could yet spend time with their child together till they had worked through some stuff.

Still, it would have been nice.

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	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Adrienne sighed as she looked about the, for now, Spartan room she was living in at her brothers apartment.

It was the room Jack had originally left for Steve. She had spent her first evening in the smallest of the three bedrooms, but with it looking as if he was not going to be in need of it, she had decided to move in to the bigger one, with Steve's blessing.

Still it was not going to be bare for long. She was not going to let it be. She was going to make it cosy. She would make it home… it was not going to be like the Kiriakis mansion but it would be home.

Her brothers were here and she would make it her home.

And that was what they had to focus on. The family. So to thank Steve for letting her stay at the apartment she had decided she would make a dinner for Kayla, to say welcome home.

They could all sit down together…

"What would you say to helping your baby sister make a family meal this weekend?"

"As long as it is not mama's tuna casserole with green noodles then I am in," Jack grinned.

Adrienne could not help but giggle.

"Well I was thinking about a casserole of some kind… but not that kind. I couldn't do it justice the way she could."

The siblings shared a fond smile before Jack straightened up.

"Sounds good," he nodded. "So when you say family…."

"Steve and Kayla and the kids of course…. And you can ask Jen and Abby," she said with a smile. "Maybe Sonny, Will and Ari too."

They were after all her family. He nodded.

Jack nodded again, because all of that sounded good… but not perfect. The obvious omission, the name missing next to Jennifer and Abigail's made it so.

But there was no use on commenting on that.

"Better ask Marcus too, "Jack added to the guest list. He was an honorary Johnson after all.

She nodded. "We are all going to get through our own things… you know right?"

He had seemed a little distant from her at times, and she knew why. But she was sure what she was saying was the truth. All of them would get through their troubles. In time. And they would do it together.

X x x

"So what do you think, homey?" asked Steve as the two of them sat at the coffee table.

The first day Marcus had spent in Salem he had just caught up with the Johnson's and had got settled at the Salem Inn.

And on the second day jet lag hit.

So it was not until the Monday when Joey was back at school and Stephanie was preparing to go back to Chicago to tie up a few lose ends later that day that he got to go through Kayla's medical file. He was sorry Stephanie and he were not going to get a bit more time together before she went back but it was as if she would be gone long. They would have her home for the fourth of July.

"So what do you make of all this?" Steve repeated his question.

"The damage to the ear is very much as it was before," Marcus was not telling Steve anything which he did not know but he believed it when Marcus said the words. "I am going to have to go into the hospital to compare the x rays and scans. But from what I have read, I should think Kayla's treatment would be as it was before. That is what I would be recommending."

"And you are going to be telling her that?"

"Through you and once I am sure it is the right way to go forward, yes."

Steve nodded.

He knew Marcus and he was not going to lead them wrong.

"I am going to able to use the hospital equipment, aren't I?"

Once upon a time he would not have had to question such a thing. But it was a long time now since he had been a member of the staff at Salem University Hospital and he did not wish to take liberties. But then he was also sure there had to be a few perks to being best friends with the Chief of Staff.

"I do not know the ins and outs of it dude, but there has to be a way." Steve nodded. He would ask Kayla later.

Naturally, she would be off for a couple of weeks to recuperate though if Marcus knew her at all then he knew she was going to want to get back to work as soon as she could, whether she could hear or not.

That day though, she had gone out on the house hunt with her sister.

A weekend with the kids and Steve had been nice but in order to give them all a little space and avoid cabin fever all together if she was at all able to do so, Kayla had had the wisdom to know she did need a little time out of the apartment.

She did not want to risk them all getting under each other's feet.

They had to breathe.

"So what is going on between the two of you right now?"

"What do you mean, 'what is going on'?" Steve shrugged.

Marcus's face said it all.

"Marcus, I am here as a friend to help her out with the kids."

"One, she could have asked anyone to move in if it was a friend which was all she needed. Two, the kids are not even that little any more so please do not try and tell me this is all for their benefit and three, this is you and Kayla we're talking about. When are you going to stop lying to yourself?"

Steve sighed before he, reluctantly, nodded. He had to admit His friend had a point. So what on earth was going on between them…

The only answer which he was really able to draw up was nothing.

Nothing had happened. He guessed, at least, not since the first night he had got back. He had held her then but not since…

And yes they were living together but it was not as if they were _together_ ….

But he had to admit, all he saw when he looked at her was the same sweetness he had always loved. Steve opened and shut his mouth.

"I thought so homey," Marcus smirked knowingly. "I thought so."

X x x

It was not long before noon that the house hunters took their first break of the day. Shane and Kim had picked Kayla up at ten and by ten minutes past they had got to their first house. It was nice but not over whelming by any measure. It would be pleasant to stay in for a few days, but on coming out of it, Shane and Kim knew that they would not being living there.

The second house which they saw at ten thirty simply looked nothing like the pictures they had been shown of it so that was off the list even before they smelt it, which was not the most pleasant of experiences…

The third was however, one to keep in mind.

It was roomy and light, had space for Shane to work while not feeling cramped if they managed to get Theresa and the baby to come to stay with them, which they very much hoped they would. That was one of the main reasons which they were looking for a house in Salem after all, as Kim confided in Kayla over lunch. In spite of the fact they had been a little out of town, they had driven back in so they could eat at the pub. If they were going to be having a long day then they might as well get some energy from their mothers wonderful cooking.

'I cannot stand the thought of our little Tate growing up in Victor's house."

It was a morgue, it was not a house, in the opinion of Kimberly Brady and it certainly was not good enough for any grandchild of hers.

She wanted her grand baby to be brought up in a house that was filled with love.

Not ghosts.

'At least you know Brady is a good man.'

'I do,' Kim said – he was John's son and no matter how much time had gone past, they were always going to see John as the brother he had been to them for just a little while. But Victor had always had a hand in raising Brady and she knew better than anyone the lengths which a parent who was desperate would go for their child.

'I just want to make sure the two of them are safe,' she signed. 'And I want to do it before Shane has a heart attack.'

The stress of it was telling on her husband. Not only Theresa and Tate but also Eve and Paige.

The two of them loved their family. But it was not the easiest.

'He is going to be ok. You both are,' Kayla replied with a smile on her face.

Kim gave her a quizzical look.

Kayla shrugged. Then she signed two words. 'Thank you.'

'For what?'

'For not holding back what the two are of you are going through from me.'

'Well, your my sister and I need someone to unload on right now,' she signed as she took her hand.

They had had a patchy relationship at moments in the past but those days were long forgotten right then.

And if there was one thing Kim knew about Kayla it was how she could not stand being coddled. She was a strong women and she demanded to be treated as such.

Focusing on her own problems all the time was not going to help her get well.

'And you know you can do the same to me,' she signed.

Kayla nodded. 'I just wish some other people felt the same.'

'Steve'? It did not take a mind reader for Kim to knew who Kayla was talking about. 'What is it like having him at the apartment'?

Kayla smiled softly. 'It is the way it is meant to be – that is how I feel some times. Especially when Stephanie is home too. You know the four of us actually sat down and had a family dinner the other night. I can't remember the last time the four of us ate together."

Kim grinned. 'That must have been really special.'

'It was. And I love seeing Steve with the kids and Joey adores him and…. And then he goes to sleep on the sofa and I go to my room and it is as if he is not back at all.' She finished.

That was not quite the truth. Even when the two of them were in separate rooms, somehow she was keenly aware of his presence. It was because he was on the sofa that she could sleep at night. Of course it did not stop the nightmares… but it let her sleep.

She wondered if he was by her side at night…. If that would stop the nightmares.

'Is that what you want?'

'You know what I want,' they were sisters. They had seen one another fall in love with two very different men. But from the moment they had given their hearts in retrospect to Steve and Shane, they had never been able to take them back.

That was part of the downside of being a Brady Kayla guessed, and those numbered few. But once you were in love… that was it. 'For better or for worse' was not a vow in a marriage ceremony when you were a Brady. It was not even a choice. It was just something in you.

Kayla just thought how glad she was the two of them had been able to find men who were made of similar stuff, with similar values.

Neither of them could take their heart back either…

'But at the same time I do not know if I can trust him. I don't want to… to be made a fool of again.'

Kim was pensive for a moment before she replied, 'I think we are all fools in love sometimes. I think we have to be.'

Almost as if to prove her point, she saw their brother approach their tables with lunch.

"And how are my two favourite big sisters in the world?" asked Bo as he put down some chowder in front of each of them in turn.

"We are not doing too bad, little brother. Tired already," she said signing as she spoke. Kayla nodded in agreement, following Kim's signs as she spoke to Bo. "But as long as me and Shane get a beautiful new home, sooner rather than later then it is going to be all worth it."

With his hands free now, Bo took a deep breathe. Time to show off what he had been learning.

'Well, don't you let our Kimber wear you out," Bo signed with a big grin.

"Little brother what have you been up too?"

But Bo had no time to answer Kimberly question. Kayla was up on her feet and even thought it hurt her ribs to do so she had thrown her arms about her younger brother.

She had missed him so much. It felt like she had had so little opportunity to spend some time with him between the kids and everything going on with both of them. And even if they had had time together then there was no way which the two of them could have communicated.

Until now. He had clearly wanted to change that as much as she had and so he had done something about it.

The two of them had always had a bond – maybe it was because they were the younger pair. Or maybe it was because neither of them had been number one, nor the best and the brightest…

They had always had one another's back. Now Bo had just proved that again.

It took a while for them to draw back, but as soon as they did, Bo signed three words.

'I missed you.'

Kim felt tears prick at her own eyes as tears begun to fall down the faces of her kid's siblings.

She knew they were happy tears – still, seeing the two of them cry always got to her.

Kayla signed back that she had missed him too and none of the three Brady siblings noticed Hope enter the pub at that very moment.

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	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Hope had been thrilled on Saturday when Ciara had got back and told her about fun which she had had with her dad that day. As scared as she was that Bo was going to leave again and that Ciara was going to get hurt, she had to say she had forgotten that her daughter had that smile – it was a very specific one and only her dad could put it on her face. It lit up her eyes and Hope had always thought it made her look even more adorable. She had smiled that smile the first time when she had been just a few months old.

Seeing that expression on her daughters face could not but melt some of the ice in her heart which she felt for Bo. Which was why she didn't feel the same powerful anger she had that day when he had first turned up at the police station when she went into the pub.

And it melted even further when she saw he was with his two sisters. She had been a member of their family for so long that his sisters were hers.

To see them clearly emotional one another's company filled her up with a strange feeling.

She wasn't sure what to call it… so she decided to try not to name it.

"Hey, what are all the tears about?" she asked as she approached their table.

"Oh Hope," said Kim with a smile. "Bo and Kayla here have just been having a bit of a chat," she beamed.

"Yeah?" she asked as she turned to her ex-husband.

"Yeah. Been filling a little of my free time with some sign language classes," he said as he pressed a kiss to Kayla's head.

"That – that sounds like a great idea!" Hope smiled.

"It is," Kim agreed.

"Do you want a drink?" Caroline asked from behind the bar, having noticed Hope come in.

She had not been planning on staying for one. However, now it was harder to leave than she had thought it was going to be.

"Yeah – yeah, can I have a soda?"

Shane, who had been chatting with his mother in law, came and sat down with the Brady siblings and between the five of them they managed to pass a very pleasant lunch. In fact by the time that the three house hunters were back on pounding the pavements, Hope felt decidedly relaxed.

"So I am guessing what you came here for today was Ciara's sweater?" Bo asked.

"Yes – a catch up with the gang was just a happy coincidence," she said as the two of them came more and more aware that they were suddenly all alone.

"Kay seems well on the mend… and happy, in spite of everything."

She had been more aware than ever that lunch that she was yet to figure out what had happened to her…

She was going to have to try again.

"Yeah I think having the kids and Steve about is helping her out."

"And Kimmie too…"

Hope nodded. "And you. You're helping Kay and you helped Ciara too. Did you have a good chat on Saturday? She seemed a lot calmer when she got back. Calmer than she has been in a long time."

Bo sighed deeply as he tried to think how to answer. "She had a lot of tough questions for me and I tried to answer her the best I can."

"Well – you made a good start," she admitted as she drained her glass of lemonade.

Then she looked at him. "Where were you Brady?"

His eyes rose to meet hers and he knew the tough questions were a long way from being done. There were still plenty left to answer.

"Europe," he replied. It was a lot more sensible an answer than the one he had given her before.

She nodded.

"Why don't I go and get the sweater?" Bo asked. He did not want them to go on any further than they already had done. No arguments…

Not that day, he thought.

She nodded. That sounded like a good idea.

X x x

'Has Stephanie gone?' asked Kayla as she got back to the flat.

She had said goodbye to her daughter that morning before she had left for the house hunt.

Though she knew Steph was not going to be gone for very long this time, she still felt a sadness when Steve nodded.

"Yeah, I got a text to say she had got the plane ok.' he said as he signed back. 'I have got some dinner on, you hungry?'

She nodded. 'What are you doing?'

'Something that will take all your troubles away,' he teased.

She remembered another time he had told her that. It had worked that night. She only hoped it was going to work this night too.

X x x

That week passed slowly, but not painfully so.

Kayla spent the week between settling back in at home, going out with Kim in the day time and trying not to admit to herself that she hated going to bed separately from Steve in the evenings.

Only once did she give into temptation and go out into the living room to watch him sleep.

When he had his eyes shut and was unaware… he still looked so like the man she had always known and loved. She had always thought he looked at his most innocent, most truthful when he slept.

She was struck also by the way that the black wife beater shirt he wore as a pyjama top still looked good on him – even after all these years. She remembered him wearing them when they were newlyweds in 1988. And though he was a little leaner than he had been in the past, he hadn't aged a day. Not too her.

Before she had been able to stop herself, she had leaned over to brush a piece of his hair off his forehead and when she had done that she had pressed her lips to the exposed skin.

Only then had she been able to pull herself away from him and go back to bed.

It had been when he was sure she was out the room that he had opened his eye and let a tear of longing fall on to the pillow. He didn't sleep a wink that night, wondering what Kayla had been trying to say with that kiss…

He was sure there were about a million things… but just the headlines would have done him.

As for Steve he spent the week performing his duties as a… house husband, he guessed for lack of a better term. That seemed to be his increasing role.

He ran Joey back and too from school and he ran Kayla to and from the hospital for check-ups and the physio therapy which she needed. He cooked and he cleaned and did the laundry. Kayla had tried once or twice but the weight was still too much for her.

It was going to be a while before she would be shifting around heavy baskets of laundry and she had to accept that.

He had also spent some time with Marcus who had got a chance to go into university hospital earlier in the week and confirm what he had already believed - the best course of treatment was the one which they had taken before, it had worked then and there was no reason he could find to think it was not going to work this time. It was going to be a little while until she was ready for it, but when she was she could have it.

Asides from that, the week was quiet. With Stephanie not due back until the following Monday there was no chance to hang out with her. But for the first time in many years he actually got to sit down with his son and watch a football game. It was such a normal thing to do and yet it felt to Steve like some kind of blessing.

The only social engagement which he had was dinner with the rest of the Johnsons on Friday and then a catch up with Homey the day Steph got back.

Life was easy and sweet and he had to admit to enjoying it.

In the end as it turned out thought, it was not just a case of him eating the food being the extent of his involvement in the meal. Both he and Jack were the ones who went out to bye it too when Adrienne woke up on Friday feeling a little under the weather.

"Do you think she is going to get us to cook it for her too?" Jack asked, as they came out of the store with bags of groceries.

"If she does not perk up by tonight, little brother, I should say there is a fair chance of that." neither of them minded. Not really. It did not matter who was cooking the food.

What mattered was at the end of the day they were all going to be about the same table and eating together. It was another kind of small blessing and one which Steve was not going to be taking for granted in a while.

It was not time for all that yet though.

And so instead of heading right back to the house they stopped off to have a coffee together in the Horton Town Square.

They did not have to fill every minute with a conversation. Somewhere down the line they had got to the point where they could handle contented silences.

Even as he sat there though, Steve found his mind was turning to Kayla and to what she was doing.

Kim would be with her but he could not shake the feeling it should be him, especially when he thought about the way she had kissed him just a few nights ago. It had meant the world to him.

It was a nice day to sit out with his brother and yet all he wanted to do was be with his sweetness. In order to try and drive out such thoughts he turned his thoughts to his brother's relationship.

"Jen and Abby are coming tonight, aren't they?"

Jack nodded. He had asked them and they had both said yes fast.

Jack did not think things had been as good as they were then between him and Jen as they were then in a long time and not just because he had been out of town for such a long time. When he had last been in Salem he had had to fight for every moment which he had with her but it was not like that now. Jen and he were texting all the time and it was as if they were… they were as they had always been in the old days.

"Yeah, they are."

"Any chance of a sign of JJ?"

"No."

It was one of the only cards which he was holding back from Steve.

Talking about the rape was not ever easy. Not between them and the chances were Steve knew the truth, he would agree with JJ.

It was as he wondered on that point that, for the first time since he had been back in Salem, he set eyes upon his son in the flesh.

X x x

If the truth was known it was getting to the point where JJ could not wait for summer, even though it was only just beginning, to come to a close.

Ever since he had got back boarding school, he did not think his life could be called easy but nor did he think it had ever been as hard as it had been over the past months. Some of that was his own fault…. He knew he had to stand up and be held accountable for that. But other parts of the summer were not his fault at all.

Part of him had begun to think he was just not going to get a chance to put it right with Paige. Yet it seemed to him as if he was the _only_ member of the family his dad was _not_ getting a chance to put everything right with. Which he had to say he just did not get. He had done something awful and yet his father had done something much, much worse.

Abby said their dad was a very different man compared to the one who their Aunt Kayla had been married too… but he had no idea how she knew that when she had not even been alive when they had been married.

So she and their mom were off to a dinner with his dad and the rest of them family that night and for the life of him he still just did not know to feel about it all and it was frustrating him beyond words and reason…..

He had decided it just about time for a break from it all, so he was heading over to Salem University. That was where he was going to go to school in the fall and if he could make an early start on his reading for the semester than he knew that had to be a good thing.

But what he had not banked on was seeing his dad as he walked across the town square. He did not know why he had not though of this as a possibility. They lived in the same town. It was always going to happen.

But it happened all at once.

It became real to him that his dad was alive.

Once upon a time he had prayed for this… for another chance.

Now he had his chance and, at last, he got his mum and Abby. He totally got them. Because all he wanted to do was run to him and tell him how glad he was to see him walking and talking and _alive..._

And then he looked at Steve and he saw his aunts' face and he remembered what he did and his dad was on his feet.

He was talking to him.

"Son – it is go good to see you," Jack said as he tried to find the words. He had one chance here and he did not want to blow it.

If he had had more time to find them, to prepare for this, then he could have them on the tip of his tongue…. But as it was he didn't.

"I want to tell you what happened. JJ - I know this is not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination," Jack begun, but instead of staying and trying to take in what his father was trying to tell him, JJ listened to what every instinct in his body was telling him to do and he turned and he ran.

He did not stop for a long time.

X x x

Later that afternoon, Steve could not help but be glad when Jen got to the apartment. The meeting with JJ and his reaction to him was clearly hard for Jack and he did not quite know where to begin trying to make it a little better for his brother.

Steve had a sinking feeling to that he knew why his nephew was throwing up the wall that he was… and in that case he was not sure if he could blame him at all.

He nodded to his sister in law and vacated the apartment. Adrienne as still in bed and still not feeling so well.

That left Jennifer alone with Jack.

She sat down on the couch next to him and put a hand on the back of his neck in order to try and do the impossible… offer a little comfort.

She pressed her lips to his cheek, hoping the imprint of her love would scare of some of his demons. She wanted to make him he was her good man, show him he was not and had not been for many years,who JJ believed him to be.

To no avail.

"He hates me." Jennifer had never heard him sound more broken.

"He loves you. He just does not know how to deal with all the things which he is feeling right now. When he has had some time to settle the two of you can talk."

"He could not look at me, let alone talk to me."

"He needs you. He just needs to get to the point where he can admit that first," she reassured him. But Jen could see he did not believe that. The look in his own son's eyes told him that was wrong.

X x x

Steve spent the next half an hour in Kayla's apartment. On his return from across the hall, she had been curled up on the sofa with a book and he was careful to come in to her line of vision quickly so he knew she was back.

'You got the food in?'

'Yeah – dinner is going to be about seven, but looks as if Jack and I are cooking.'

As he signed his brothers named, Kayla noticed his face seem to fall a little.

"Is everything ok?' she checked.

'Um…. Yeah. It is just we saw JJ and in the square he did not give Jack that much of a warm welcome."

Kayla could have predicted that.

She sighed. Personally, for Abby and Jen she had been glad when she had learned Jack was still alive. She hadn't understood how at first given the way he had died but if there was one thing being a Johnson had told her it was to not questions things.

Sometimes you just had to roll with the blessings which life gave you.

But she had known JJ was going to struggle with it from the first and she wished there was more she could do to help him right then.

Abby had found out about the past in a gentle controlled way and yet they had all dropped the ball with JJ. She had been told at the time that none of it was her own fault but he was her nephew. He had been young and venerable and so, of course, she had felt as if she had not protected him enough.

And maybe if she hadn't they would not be where they were right then with him.

But – but then she wasn't sure she could him just then, as much as she wanted too. It had been a long time since she felt as if she had had so much buzzing round in her head.

And most of the time she just did not want to think about most it at all.

She certainly did not that day.

"He is going to come round.'

'I hope so sweetness,' he signed as he grimaced.

He did not know what his brother was going to do if not.

When he returned across the way half an hour later he found the mood in the flat was still noticeable sedate.

Jennifer had got Jack up and they were pealing the vegetables for that night together but the smile which she shot his way told him that his brother was still feeling the effects of that's afternoon, which was no surprised..

Steve did not like to think of the way it would feel if Joey tried to freeze him out like that.

Realising there was not a lot he could do for his little brother, he turned to his sister who was at last out of bed, sitting on the couch.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked as he placed a kiss to her forehead.

"Not too bad – better now than I was," she said as he looked her over. She didn't look pale or seem to hot… perhaps it had been just a little bug.

"You feeling hungry?"

She seemed to think about it for a while and then nodded. She had been so nauseous earlier that the thought of food had been horrific but it was not any more.

"Good."

"Steve, we're are going to need your help over here in a minute," called Jen as she opened the bottle of wine. After all dinner for eleven was no easy task.

Maybe they should just be ordering in… but it was too late for that.

They had enough food to feed the five thousand it felt like. They had to get it cooked.

Adrienne did in the end help with the cooking but not for very long. As soon as Will, Sonny and Ari turned up it was quite clear she was going into grandma mode and it was going to take a lot for her to get out of it. And so they left her too it.

It was only as they were prepping the meal Steve realised he should have asked Kim or Bo to come as well so Kayla had someone else there she could talk too. On their arrival, Joey had stayed with his mom for a bit but then he had got caught up in a conversation with Abby and she was on her own but as he looked at Kayla, he came to the conclusion she was not as worried as he was about it.

She seemed so calm and content to just be there with them which went doubly so when Marcus turned up. Though he was unable to sign, he had soon picked up a note pad as Steve, Jen and Jack chopped and cooked, the two of the passed notes think and fast, back and forth.

Steve did not know if it was wrong to think such a thought but as he stood there he was sure he could feel his world right itself just a little more.

Thus by the time he was serving up dinner he was in a relatively good mood.

"Come and get it you guys," he called as they dished up and Joey finished laying the table.

Everyone seemed to move at once with Marcus alerting Kayla to what was going on.

Abby was first to the table with Joe. Will and Sonny were there pretty fast to which left Kayla, Marcus and Adrienne bringing up the rear.

And in hind sight, Steve was very grateful for that as it meant when Adrienne nearly feel down Marcus was there to catch her.

At first he was not sure if she had tripped, but then he saw how pale she was all of a sudden.

"Baby…" he said as he and Jack moved at the same time to get to their sister.

Marcus did not have to cross the room though…. He was there and he was the one to stop her hitting the floor.

"I got you," he said comfortingly as he aided her in her stagger over to the sofa.

As soon as he knew she was not in any physical danger, he changed from her friend in to her doctor. He looked over but knew they were not really going to know what was up till they got her to the hospital.

As soon as they were at her side, her brothers were doing all they could to stay calm but Marcus could feel the panic they were both experiencing radiating off them.

Jack was standing over her nervously and Steve was clasping her hand.

"What is up with her homey?" Steve begged to know.

Marcus' eyes met Kayla.

If only she was able to talk they may have been about to work that one out together. As it was he began to understand just how hard all of this was on her, the frustration which she had to be feeling.

Steve's voice called him back and he was reminded that all of this right then was about Adrienne., whose son was now also at her side.

"What's happening?" the patient herself asked weakly as she came round to find she was surrounded by the men in her life. Jack brushed the hair out of her face.

"You know what, I am not too sure. We had better get you to the hospital to find out."

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	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Adrienne sighed as she shifted on the couch.

"You know I really do feel ok now," she said as she looked between her two brothers.

"You do have some of your colour back," Jack reassured himself more than her.

As for Steve, he said little. Out of the two of them, Adrienne knew he was going to be the one who saw her true motivation in saying that, hoping that they were going to take her out of there. She wanted to go back to the apartment and finish up their meal, say sorry to everyone for no doubt freaking them out…

No chance, Steve shook his head. There was no way they were leaving until they knew just what was up with her.

"I am so sorry you have had to spend so much time here since you have been home," she said sadly.

"Well, I have to say it is feeling like a home from home right now," he said as he smoothed back her hair. But it did not matter to him. All that mattered was that she was ok. "You don't worry about that though." They had enough to be worrying about that without borrowing any trouble.

She nodded as she lay back on the couch and for just a moment she let herself shut her eyes. In spite of the fact she had had a nap that afternoon, she still felt so tired.

More so than she had been in a while actually.

She tried to look back over the last few weeks, and how she had been in herself but it had all just got lost in a whirl of trying to be there for the family.

She knew she had been tired more than she had been beforehand but there had been so much going on… she had just put it down to all the stress.

But this was the first time she had felt so woozy. A few months ago she had had a bug but that was something she had eaten.

She was sure of it.

At long last, the doctor who had met them at the ER came in. She gave them a smile and Jack and Steve sprung to their feet.

"Do you know what us up with our sister?" Jack asked before she had so much had a chance to talk to Adrienne.

"Why don't you both sit down? Mrs Kiriakis, would you like to discuss this privately?"

Adrienne shook her head. "These two are my brothers and I think they would go crazy if I kicked them out now. Besides, the three of us don't have secrets from one another. Whatever is up with me, Jack and Steve can know. Its nothing serious, is it?"

The doctor sat down as the two men did. "Well, yes but nothing life threatening. Mrs Kiriakis, I have got big news for you. If you don't mind me asking, are you aware of how long it has been since you have had a period."

Adrienne felt herself flush and she knew both of her brothers were suddenly going to wish they were not in the room after all.

"To be honest… no. Things have become … irregular, over the last few years. But I am in my late forties and I am pretty sure I am going in to the menopause." She nodded.

That was just one of the unhappier changes she had had to put up with lately.

"Quite the opposite. I am afraid this is going to be a shock for you. You're five months pregnant."

Adrienne burst out laughing as she looked at the face of the doctor. She had to have heard it wrong. She was far too old to be having a baby and when she thought of all the trouble she had had conceiving when she had been young… there was no way she was having a child now…

Sonny was her little miracle baby… and she was a grandmother now. There was no way…

"That not possible."

She couldn't be – she just couldn't be. She turned to her brothers for one of them to tell her that the doctor was joking but they were just staring at her as if they were as stunned as she was.

She realised for all the fact she could not take it in, this did not change the fact Steve and Jack were going to be uncles again.

"Let me get you a glass of water," the doctor said as she got up.

"I – I don't know what to say."

The doctor nodded sympathetically.

"Five – five months. How could I not have known? I mean… oh my god."

There was nothing else to say.

"I do understand this is a lot to take in."

Yet even that seemed to be an understatement.

A baby?

She was too old. And not just because of the night feeds.

She thought of the baby's health, of her own and then of the elephant which had joined them in the room.

When she had a better idea of dates she might be able to work it out but just then she had no idea whose baby was inside of her.

She just didn't know.

"Can I go home please?"

All she wanted to do was go home and digest this news. She didn't know how she was ever going to even begin doing that but she knew she had to give it ago.

"Mrs Kiriakis, you can but before you do go we would just like to do an ultra sound and check on the baby if that is ok."

Adrienne knew she did not have to even so much as think about it. Of course she would stay…

For the first time she moved her hand to rest on her stomach. Her baby was in there, its little tiny toes and fingers developing as she panicked.

She turned to Steve and Jack and knew they were not going to be going anywhere until she had had this scan either.

"Are you ok?" asked Jack as the nurse went to get the ultra sound scanner.

Adrienne shook her head. "I have absolutely no idea."

X x x

There was a soft glow in the apartment when Steve got back to it. He had known no one was going to sleep all that easy till they had known just what was going on so he could not claim to be surprised.

Kayla had clearly come back to her own apartment a little while ago and was in her pyjamas, but had waited up on the sofa for him.

It reminded Steve all of a sudden of when they had been so much younger, when their little Stephanie Kay had been a babe in arms. He had been with the Salem PD and Kayla had used to wait up for him before going to bed. Just like so much else about her, he had thought the gesture sweet.

'Is Adrienne ok?' she signed as he took off his coat. 'Are you?' she checked as she saw how worried he was.

There was no hiding it.

'I am fine…. But Adrienne is…'

'Is what?'

'Having…. Having a baby. She's having a little baby.'

Out of everything Steve could say… Kayla did not think that was a possibility. She had not seen it coming.

"Pregnant?"

He nodded. 'She is five months gone and she had no idea.' Steve explained.

She had just had no idea.

His mind raced with the implications. Dimples was going to have to step up. They were all going to, they had to look after Adrienne. She was going to need them all and a bit of extra cherishing.

But then there was the fear. The fear that she was not going to be able to have a healthy baby, that something would go wrong…

He considered all the research which the two of them had done when they had had Joey. The statistics had terrified him then and they had been in possession of all the facts.

His sister had been caught unawares. What if…

'She was so scared – she didn't say it but I could tell,' he admitted as he signed.

It was only as he felt Kayla take his hands he realised his own had been shaking.

He wondered how long the two of them had been playing this game now. When one of them was unsteady, the other would give them a little safety, firm the ground beneath their feet. Her touch… her touch had been very much required…

As he looked at her, and smile crept on to his lips. For all the anxiety and worry of the evening…. He would be an uncle again. And Kayla would be an aunt again whether they were married or not.

A new tiny life and for all the chances things might go wrong, they could also go very right. That was what he saw when he looked at Kayla.

Her glass was always half full.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured. He hoped through the silence she could hear what he meant, that she could feel what he meant…

Reaching out, he touched her cheek, caressing it his fingers for a moment before he sat back.

He didn't want to presume… but Kayla shut the gap between them.

She placed a hand over his heart before pillowing her head on his shoulder and then the flood gates open.

And he held her… He held her tighter than he had held her for years.

He had fought this for weeks, the desire just to be close to her and now he couldn't. As his cheek came close to her lips she could not resist bringing them together for just a moment. Then she snuggled down.

They stayed close until the sun rose.

X x x

"Another cousin?"

Had it not been for the fact that Joey had seen his aunt faint then Steve would have kept the news from him for longer.

He had to give his sister time to get used to the idea before they started spreading the good news.

But as soon as Joey had got up he had been asking and Steve felt it was not right to lie to him.

He owed his son the truth.

The two of them had gone out for breakfast at Club TBD so Steve could explain and get a little – space, for him and Kayla.

When he had woke up that morning she had still been curled up in his arms. He had pushed his lips to her forehead and wondered if she was going to regret what had gone on in the cold light of day and thought there were no signs that was the case… but he wanted her to be sure.

"Yeah… it is the last thing Aunt Adrienne expected though so we have to give her a little time to get used to the idea."

Joey nodded. "Things aren't good between her and Uncle Justin right now, either, are they?"

"They could be better," Steve admitted.

He was not sure of the ins and outs of it but he knew they were not prepared or ready for this at all.

"Do you think they are going to be able to work it out?"

"Maybe."

His son looked at him with a knowing expression.

"Say what's on your mind, son."

"I had to go to the toilet last night. I saw you and mama - you were cuddling."

"I was upset after I got back from the hospital last night – we just…"

"It's ok. I know you are not going to be getting back together it was just… nice."

Steve nodded. It had been very nice.

Joey's eyes were distracted as he looked at the bar. "Does Sonny know about the baby?"

"I don't know if his mama has had a chance to tell him yet so we had better not let on."

"Here is someone else we had better not let on to."

Justin Kiriakis had just come in to the bar – and he had not come in alone.

A small, young, pretty blonde was on his arm.

"We're leaving Joey." Steve said. Their breakfasts were half eaten but he did not trust his own temper some times. Especially not then. His little sister needed treasuring and yet her husband was walking about town with another women on his arm and…

Joe did not argue with his father. They may not have had that long together but he knew that tone in his voice.

He was not to argue with him and it would take a child braver than Joey to try.

As they headed for the door, Justin released they were there which was inevitable.

Steve was glad to see he looked embarrassed.

As he should do. This was his sons club…

"Steve, Joe, how's Kayla?" asked Justin.

Joe gave a nod that she was ok but Steve said nothing.

"I know this is hard –"

"Don't you dare to talk to me about what is hard." Steve knew he had to be careful about what he said.

He was not going to be letting Dimples know anything his sister was not ready for him to know.

Luckily, at that moment, the two of them got rescued.

"Uncle Steve, it is ok," Sonny said as he came round from the bar. "I have got this."

The two of them looked at each other and Steve knew that Sonny understood the situation.

"Dad, come on lets go. We should get back to mom," Joe encouraged. And with that the two Johnson's left the bar.

"I know he was not going to be happy but Sonny –"

"Dad, I cannot understand this and there is too much on my mind to deal with – with whatever this is. I am not going to stop the two of you getting a coffee here but please do not introduce me to – this."

Sonny knew he was being rude and he hated the way that he sounded. But with good reason he was feeling protective of his mother.

Stalking off, he went back to his office and tried to imagine what it would be like to have a baby brother or sister.

X x x

Moving in day came fast for Shane and Kim. Kim could only guess that was because they had chosen one of the very first houses they had seen to move into.

It was the third one they had seen the day they were out with Kayla.

They got to the house early and were waiting for the van to bring their possessions.

Kim therefore had a chance to look about one last time with the house being bare. She could hear the echo of her heals on the floor as she walked about the living room to be.

"Do you know how long it is going to be until the van is here?" asked Shane as he came into the room with a coffee for them both.

"Thank you, my love," she said as she took the mug from him. "Not too much longer now." He nodded and put an arm about her.

"So do you think he we will be happy here?"

"As long as we are here with our grandchildren I am almost sure of it."

"I note you make no mention of our lovely girls," he murmured sarcastically.

"They are good girls, deep down," she said with a sigh.

"I just wish they would act like it from time to time…"

Kim giggled. They must do… _some time_ , she thought. "Well then we will spend a bit of time with lovely Paige and Tate."

They were good.

Shane pushed his lips to her forehead.

"Paige text me last night and asked me if we were going to the lake for the fourth."

"She did?" he asked. Their plans for this particular holiday was always something which Shane had left to Kim. It had always been more hers than his after all.

"Yes, she wanted us to go down to the picnic by the lake," Kim nodded. "I said we would go."

"Good."

"It'll be fun. And nice for us to be altogether…"

"Yes it will," he said as he leaned into him. Right then he had no idea, truly, how he would have got through any of this without her... And so he was more than content to have a moment just to hold her.

It was only when they heard the roAR of a van outside their house they broke apart. It was going to be a long day for them but they had Bo coming to help and as long as they were together then it would be a good day none the less.

X x x

"It's fourth of July next week."

"I know it is," said Hope as she Ciara walked down the street. They had a brunch date with the Jennings to attend.

The four of them hadn't had a lot of time together lately. It was a situation which they wanted to remedy.

"Are we going to go down to the picnic by the lake?"

That was what they generally did. It was what most of the town normally did.

"Of course, honey," said Hope with a smile. "Why?"

"Because I think dad is going too," said Ciara with a smile.

Hope did not see that as entirely good news but she knew Ciara probably did. It was clear from her tone of voice.

After they had got back from the park, Ciara had been much less hard on Bo. She had been daddy's girls when she had been young.

And part of her was always going too devoted to him. But that part was getting bigger again already.

Hope wished he had run what he was planning by her but then why the hell should he? Hope had a feeling the Johnson's were going to be at the lake, as well as the Donovan's, and this was the first chance in years Bo had had the opportunity to spend the holiday with his friends and his family.

Of course he was going to relish is.

Aidan and herself were going to have to see Bo socially. It was a fact of life. And they may as well start of the fourth, she thought to herself.

"Well then he can play baseball with you guys."

"Yeah, he can, it's going to be good!"

Ciara raced ahead to the restaurant and Hope sighed. She was growing up so fast. It was not going to be very long until she wanted to spent the fourth with her friends instead of them family. And of course as she looked forward to future fourths, she looked back. She remembered when her daughter was a tiny girl, how much fun she and Bo had had with her.

Somewhere deep in side of her, a voice said to was going to be a good thing. Another fourth when she, Bo and Ciara were together. It was far too long since they had had this type of time together.

She smiled and followed Ciara into the restaurant.

X x x

Joe had abandoned Steve on the way back to the apartment. One of his buddies from school had called him about heading over to the park to play some football and it had been clear he had wanted to go before he had so much as asked Steve. His father had said he could go with no hesitation… the little dude has spent a lot of time with his family lately and could probably do with blowing off a bit of steam with his buddies.

Steve was not going to get in the way of that.

So when he got back he was on his own and he knew if he were a dog (as some in the past had believed him to be) then his heckles would still be up.

Damn Dimples and that blonde stick insect he had brought home to Salem. He was only glad Adrienne had not been with him and Joe that morning for he did not know if she would have been able to take that.

His guess was not right then. He had just been walking through to the kitchen, thinking he should really go over and check on his sister when the door to the bathroom opened and Kayla stepped out. In nothing but a towel.

The first thing he noted was her wet hair. He averted his eyes and they handed on her bare feet which did not help matters.

He could feel the weight of her on his chest, balled up as she had been the night before.

It made him feel heady till he saw the still fading bruises at the tops of her arms… Then he just felt angry.

Who had hurt her? When was he going to be able to kill them for doing so?

Before he did stop himself he gently touched the top of her arms, his fingers traces over her wounds and felt her stiffen.

He removed it right away.

But even then she didn't run and hide from him. It many ways it would have been easier if she had.

But she didn't.

They stayed frozen in time, till they moved off, leaving them both wondering what had passed between them and what the ramifications would be.

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	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

"Are you sure you do not want to come with us?" asked Jack as Adrienne huddled on the sofa.

She shook her head. "I – I do not think that is a great idea. I want to have a quiet fourth. But you're going to have a great day with your girls."

Jack grimaced. Yes – he knew he would. And he did relish the thought of having an entire day with his girls, but the idea of doing it by the lake with a load of other people did not inspire him…

But when it came to family days he would take what he could get. He had missed too much to turn down any chance he got.

Still, he would feel a lot better if Adrienne as with them.

"How you doing? Really?"

"With my baby bomb shell?" she asked as she put a hand over her stomach. "Better. I am getting used to the idea."

When she had been told she was going to have another baby, she was sure she was never going to get used to the thought but that was the thing about kids…

They had their own way of making themselves known.

For the first time in a long time, she felt as if the news had let her stand still in a way that nothing else had. She had been so upset about Justin and then she had been infatuated with Lucas and then she had to deal with Kayla and Steve and Jack and the kids.

And now that had all stopped. For the first time in a long time, something was about her.

And she found she was able to listen to her body and she did not feel selfish for doing so. She had to do it for the sake of her little one.

Her little one…

She felt a smile appear on her face. She was the first to say the timing of this could be a whole lot better. As in, twenty years before hand. Part of her said she was too old to be doing all of this and she did not think she was ever going to be able to entirely silence that voice.

But this was happening none the less. And when the baby came she knew she was going to love it with all of her heart and soul.

"Really, I am. You go and have a good day. All I am going to do is sit on the couch and catch up on some trashy day time TV," she explained.

And do a little math while she was at it…

X x x

"You guys do not do any further than we can see ok?" said Hope as she watched Ciara and Chase rush off together to play.

As soon as they had got up that day, Ciara had been desperate to get down to the lake and an early call from Aiden had told her his son doing much the same. And so to save both of their sanities they had got up with the kids and made their way down to the lake.

And now Hope was glad they had had the early start. It really was turning in to the most beautiful day and it would be a crime to miss any of it she decided.

It was as she watched the two kids run off together that she felt a pair of arms snake round her from behind and a pair of lips were soon on her cheek.

She could not help but smile as she twisted in Aiden's arms.

It had been so rare of late that they had a chance to able like this. To be loving and open.

But now it was the fourth of July. It was a day to set their troubles aside.

"Do you have any idea how much I missed your smile?"

"Just about as much as I missed you holding me this way," she responded.

Their life on late had not been easy. It had not even felt as if it was theirs. Just so much had got so complicated.

"I do not want to lose track of you like I have been doing lately. Let's not lose each other in the midst of everything else."

He nodded. "I do not want to that."

"Me neither."

And then he not only7 had his arms about her but he was kissing her the way he used to kiss her before there life had got so busy with the kids and work and Bo.

 _Bo Brady._

Hope ended the kiss a little short, gave Aiden a too wide smile, and he had been about to ask why – she was sure of it, when a voice called out to her.

"Hope!"

"Hey!" She said as she turned to see the Donovan contingent of the family had come down almost as early as they had.

Shane and Kim were not on their own though. Shane was pushing the pram which Hope assumed had Tate in and Paige was too hanging off her grandpas arm as Kim rushed forward to greet her.

"Are you guys meting the others here?" Hope questioned.

"We are. The Brady camp is going to take over the lake I swear, we have Steve, Kayla with the kids and Marcus and Bo will be down and I think Roman wants to pop in…" she said as she tailed off on seeing Hope was not alone.

The police officer knew this was as good a time as any to introduce them all.

"Oh, Kim, Shane I do not think you've… you've met my partner, Aiden."

"No." Shane said as he put his hands on Kim's shoulders. "I do not think we have."

"Kim and Shane are two of my oldest friends. I've… known them forever," Hope explained.

"It is nice to meet you," Aiden said as he shook their hands.

This was one situation which Kim did not think she was ever going to be in. When they had been young, Hope and Bo had not always been that solid but they had always loved one another fiercely.

Kim had thought they were always going to want to fight to be together.

She nodded politely.

"We had better set up the pop up tent so Tate has some where to sit."

Their grandson was far too young to be out in the sun all day.

They moved a little way from the Jennings camp and begun setting up their own.

"This is going to be one odd Fourth of July isn't it?"

Hope nodded. She had a feeling that was very much going to be.

X x x

It was eleven before the Johnsons turned up.

Steve and Kayla were walking down to the lake close together, Hope noted that first of all. She had seen them together a couple of times since he had been back but for the first time she felt as if she was seeing them _together._

She wasn't sure what had changed but it was clear that something had.

When she and Steve had had a catch up the week before hand, she had questioned him about Kayla and he had played it very cool. There had bene no hint of anything between them.

But now there was.

She watched the kids. Joey looked happier than she had seen her nephew look in a long time. In fact, he seemed to have a confidence she had not seen in him for too long.

Stephanie too looked happy if a little more apprehensive than her brother.

She was deep in conversation with Marcus who had turned up with them.

"So you really think mom is going to be ok?"

"Yes, Steph I am going to make sure that she is," he said. "But, come on, today us not a day for all this, this is a day to just enjoy being together."

"I think mom and dad might be enjoying one another's company a little too much." Stephanie said as Joey ran off to join Ciara and Chase and her parents begun to set their chairs for the day.

Marcus' silence said more than a verbal response.

"You think they should get back together?"

"I think they should do what makes them happy and in my experience they always managed to be happy together."

Steph sighed. She was not sure if she would agree with that.

"You know I swore if this was where it went then I was going to give my dad hell. But mum looks so happy and I don't want to take that away from her – from them."

"Then you had better just have a little faith in them."

By the time that Jen turned up with the kids and Bo arrived on his own, Steve and Kayla had settled down together and were signing quietly with contented smiles on their face.

They looked clam. And steady.

"At least it looks as if those two may be able to work things out." Kim sighed to Shane as she held Tate in her arms, from across the way.

It was clear from the moment that Hope had introduced Aiden to her she had felt awful for Bo.

Shane held her hand and smiled sadly for there was not a lot else which he could do. Aiden may not have done anything wrong, but Kim was loyal to her brother. That was something he understood.

Bo himself seemed to be trying to deal with it head on.

As soon as he had got to the lake he had gone straight over to Aiden and Hope for he did not want things to be any more awkward than they strictly had to be.

"It is good to put a face to the name," Aiden said as the two men shook hands...

And try as he might Bo could not help but mark his card. There was something about him which he did not like and deep down he knew that due to something other than the fact he had Hope's love.

The silence was just drawing out too long when Ciara came over to them.

"Daddy!"

"There is my little one," said Bo as he put an arm about her. "Happy fourth, my beautiful."

"Happy fourth." She said in reply. "We are playing water polo down un the lake, you going to come play?"

"Sure," he smiled as he let her lead him off by the hand.

"Well, I have to say that went a lot better than I thought it was going too."

Hope had been pleasantly surprised by the way that Bo had managed to keep his head.

Aiden nodded as he went back to his chair. Hope realised that for him he did not think it had gone so well, for some reason.

Putting it down to the long history which she and Bo had she took her own seat back in the sun and watched as Bo joined the kids in their game.

It was a good thing he had come home. They had needed him, she thought to herself before she mentally corrected herself.

She had needed him, Ciara had. Not them…

X x x

"Stop it…" Kim said gently to Shane.

"Stop what?"

"Looking at young JJ as if you want to kill him."

Shane gave her a look to say so what if he did, but a family day out was hardly the right setting to get into the young man over what he had done to Paige and Eve.

And Shane Donovan could be a patient man.

X x x

"JJ!"

JJ had not had a lot of cause to smile of late but he did when he heard the voice of his little cousin.

To his shame he had got so caught up with what was going on with him that he had hardly spent any time with Joey. Even in the early days after his aunt's crash he had not gotten over to the mansion as much as he should to spend a little time with him, especially after he knew Stephanie was there.

But that was the thing about him and Joey. As much as he knew his kid cousin felt things deeply, no matter what he did to him he just forgave him. No matter if he had let him down in the past.

And so when the two of them shared a one armed hug he did have a big smile on his face.

"How you doing dude?"

"Doing good. Do you want to come play water polo for a bit?"

"Yeah – yeah I do," he said with a nod.

It'd be nice to hang out with him for a while.

"So how you doing? I know I haven't seen you a lot lately… I am sorry about that Joe."

"It's ok. I have been at home a lot hanging out with dad, so it's been cool…"

"Hanging out with your dad, hey?"

Joey nodded.

"It's been good," he repeated as he looked at his cousin. Joey knew even before the two of them got in to it that they were heading towards sensitive territory but he felt as if they had to go there.

"You haven't seen a lot of your dad since he has been back have you?"

JJ shook his head. "No – no, I haven't."

"And he hasn't moved back home with you guys even though Aunt Jen loves him?"

JJ shook his head again. He did not want to be having this conversation on a day when the two of them should just be kicking back and having a little fun together.

"Why are you mad at him?" There was going to be no throwing Joey off the scent then JJ thought to himself.

But at the same time there was no way in hell he was going to give him the truth.

"There is just some – grown up stuff going on, Joe, you don't have to worry about it," he fobbed him off.

"Don't say that to me – I am not that much younger than you are!" Joey said before her rushed ahead so he was able to hang out with Theo and Chase.

Suddenly JJ had the feeling his cousin wished he had not asked him to come and hang out with them.

Just another reason to be pissed at his dad as far as he was concerned.

X x x

February 12th. That had been the day Sonny had been stabbed.

Adrienne was not surprised to feel a shiver go through her body as she thought about it. She never liked to spend any time thinking about that truly awful day. But she knew she had too.

She had to work out when the baby was conceived.

It had been just a few nights after that that she and Justin had been together. The two of them had simply been so over whelmed with relief that their boy was going to be ok that they had - they had gone to bed together. There had been so much going on between them right then but at that moment none of it had mattered.

Sonny was the only thing that mattered.

And after that she had not been with Lucas for a while, but not for a good two weeks after…

And now it was Fourth of July.

The chances were it was Justin's. She knew that. And in many ways she hoped it was going to be his. She wanted the baby to be Sonny's baby sibling in every way. She wanted the baby to share a father with all four of her pr his big brothers.

For just a moment she stopped worrying about the father of the baby as she pondered its gender. Without a doubt this was going to be her last baby and in spite of herself, she could not but hope it was going to be a little girl. She adored all four of her boys and if they had another baby brother then so be it.

But she had always wanted a daughter. Ever since she had held tiny Stephanie Kay the first time. She had wondered then at what a blessing it was to have a baby and when she had become a mother herself, she had known she was right to wonder at that because it was a miracle.

Each and every tiny life in her opinion…

And so more than anything she wanted the baby to be healthy. But a healthy girl would be the icing on the case.

She thought about the way Lucas was with Allie. And with Will. He was such a good dad and she knew there was nothing more important on this earth to him than his babies, which was just the way it should be. But then she thought about Justin. And the way that he had the same longing for a daughter that she had had. When she had been carrying Sonny they had already had Alex and the twins and they had used to talk at night about their plans for this child and the amount of times Justin had referred to the bump as 'she'… Adrienne had lost count.

Of course, at the time, it had been such a miracle that they had conceived at all that Sonny was by no means a disappointment when he had come out. He had been such a beautiful, strong boy and as soon as his father had held he had won him over.

And there was no way that this baby would disappoint.

But the secret corners of her heart told her what her heart desired.

For this baby to be a daughter. To be Justin's daughter, which confused her no end.

She felt as if she could be sick when she remembered what had been there last night together.

For just a while she had been so happy to think the two of them were going to make it. She had felt safe and happy in his arms the way she used to do when she had been a young women… She had thought they were on the right path. The path that was going to lead them home to one another but it turned out she had been very wrong.

Elsa's arrival of that had been more symbolic than anything else.

She didn't care about the fact Elsa had seen them together now. Not really – it was embarrassing, of course, but at least she now knew there had been a time when her husband had been in to her. That was not so much of an old dragon after all. That was no doubt the way he had painted her. She wondered bitterly if he had said she just didn't understand him.

And she hated him for that.

But as much as she hated him – she still loved him more.

For which she hated herself.

X x x

If she shut her eyes and tried hard enough, Kayla was sure she could hear the birds singing that day. Or at least, if she tried hard enough she could hear them from memory which was close enough.

She could not remember a day since everything had happened that she felt so good.

When she had been in the shower that morning she had noted the last of her bruises fading away. When she had got out the shower she had had her favourite pancakes made by her daughter waiting for her. She was so glad Stephanie was home for good, and not just because of the great food. She had walked in to the living room to see the man she loved and their son mucking around together, laughing their heads off. It was just the way it should be, the four of them at home together.

She just wished this waking dream was not also a silent movie.

Still, she knew she had to focus on the positives and just then that was very easy to do.

As the sun had got higher in the sky she had got off her chair and curled up on the picnic blanket. It was one of those days made to lull around in the sun, so that was just what she wanted to do.

Steve, for a while, had headed down to the lake to play with the kids and during that time she had been, she guessed, 'checked on' by the various relations of hers who were spending their Fourth of July just as she was spending hers. They came over, signed to see if she was ok and then left her to her thoughts, which was fine with her.

When she had not been trying to communicate with people she had been watching the game. They were meant to be playing water polo but by the end of it just seemed as if the kids were using the adult as objects to climb all over and that went especially for Joe and Steve, who seemed to think the way to win the game was to splash each other as many times as they could.

Joe out lasted his father in the water though and when Steve returned, he collapsed on the blanket next to her. The next thing Kayla knew, he had an arm thrown protective over her and it felt so natural that she did not have the heart to move it.

Even if she did then she wouldn't have wanted too.

Rather, after they had lay prompted up for a while as Steve chatted with Shane who was currently feeding his little grandson a bottle, they just rolled over and had a cuddle.

It was in that moment Kayla knew that without exchanging any words or having a deep discussion about it, they had slowly got back together. Over the past month the two of them had been building towards it but after Adrienne and the nights before hand…

They couldn't fight it anymore.

Which she was so glad for. Because as she lay in the sun, her head nestled on Steve's chest she could hear the sounds within the silence.

And they were beautiful.

X x x

Jack turned up at the picnic around twelve. Jen and Abby had said they were aiming to be there at about half eleven and he wasn't sure why but he had been nervous about going. Silly really, he was sure but he hadn't spent that much time in big crowd and –

Any way he had driven around for a bit to calm himself before he had made his way down to the beach.

As he did he took in the view of people he had known for years. Some of the happy, some of them not but it felt so normal…

And he had not had a lot of normal in his life.

"Daddy!"

And then none of it mattered any way because Abby was there. And her mother was there. And he knew some where round here was their son.

The three of them were the only ones who mattered in many ways.

"Hello sweetheart," he said as he took his daughter in his arms.

"How are you?"

"Good," he said as he allowed her to take him over to where Jennifer was sitting.

"Miss Horton," he said as he bent down playfully to kiss her.

"Hey you, what took you so long?" she asked as he sat at his side.

And right then all of his reasoning for his late coming made no sense, not even to him because how and why would he be nervous about coming to spend the day with the most beautiful women in the world?

"I have no idea."

X x x

JJ sighed as he watched Joe. He knew his younger cousin was angry. And it was going to take time for him to cool off.

He remembered what head thought earlier about him forgiving him. He just had to give him that little bit of time… still there did not seem to be a lot of point in staying by the lake when he was not wanted there.

And so he begun the walk back to where the family had set up their camp for the day, thinking he could do with a glass of lemonade… or a nice cold beer.

But as he got up to camp he felt his heart sink and his stomach churn. Because there with his mother and his sister was his dad. True. his Aunt Kayla did not look as if she was very worried about Jack from where she lay in the arms of his Uncle Steve.

Still, he was not going to be able to let this pass and he was not going to be running away from it this time.

He was going to make sure that he knew he had no place there among them.

"What is he doing here?" he asked, his voice raising as he go to the blanket where Jen and Jack were sitting together.

Jennifer was on her feet before her husband and she felt Abby come to her side.

"JJ, why don't the two of take a little walk so that we can talk about this?" Jen offered, hoping against hope that there was not going to be a scene.

"I do not want to talk about it, I just want to know what he is doing here."

"He is here because he is our dad and he wants to spend the holiday with us!" Abby defended her father. In turn Jack said his daughters name softly and shook his head.

"Your brother has every right to be angry with me..."

"Yes – yes I do!" JJ said as his voice rose louder and louder attracting the attention of the Brady's.

X x x

Paige ad been cuddling her little cousin when the confrontation between Jack and his son had begun. If her grandfather had had his way, then she would had forgotten all about the boy when she had found out what he and her mother had done but life was rarely that simple.

She could not switch off the fact that she had loved him deeply and she knew him well.

So well in fact that as soon as she saw him heading for Jack, she knew he was going to fly off the handle. In the time which the two of them had known each other, she had not known him to be that angry about too many tithings but she knew better than anyone how mixed up his feelings for his father were.

She passed the baby to Kim and got to her feet.

"Paige…" but her grandfather's voice got lost in the noise.

"I mean, why the hell wouldn't I be? The man who raped the aunt who had always stood by the two of us is hanging out with the family as if nothing happened and the two of us are just meant to be ok with that?"

"HEY!" Now his Uncle Steve was on his feet. "You stop that now!"

It was clear his uncle did not want Kayla dragged into this.

"JJ - you have to understand I am so sorry about what I did. I have regretted it ever… ever since."

"I don't care how much you regret it, I hate you - I hate you for what you did."

"I hate myself."

That was when JJ saw red. How dare his father try to be so self-pitying? Through his rage, he did not and couldn't not hear the sincerity in his father's voice.

And nor did he hear Paige coming to try and help him.

He had raised his fist before any on could stop him and it was not till he felt it collide with something or someone on the back ward swing that he snapped out of his rage.

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	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Paige hissed softly as she touched her lip.

In spite of her fall to the ground, that was what hurt the most. She could taste something metallic in her mouth and she did not need to be told that it was her own blood.

Things had gone very quiet around for her for just a moment.

"Oh my god, Paige – Paige, I am so sorry." that was JJ. "I didn't mean -"

"Get away from her!"

"Grandpa!" she cried as Shane stood protectively over her.

This was not going to help matters, she was sure of it. JJ was distraught and he had not meant to do this. The last thing which they needed was more anger.

Kim must have given Tate to someone else as she was suddenly by her side, stroking her hair and telling her to let her see her lip but Paige continued to try and stay focus on JJ. He had made so many mistakes. And he sure as hell was not going to forgive himself for this one in a hurry.

She was not sure if she was going to either but she knew he didn't meant to do this.

He really didn't.

Paige tried to get her grandfather's attention as Shane yelled at the young man, grabbing the top of his T shirt as he tried to get through to JJ what he had done and Jack tried to get in between them. No matter what had gone on, he was his son and he was always going to try and defend him. And when he finally got them apart, JJ turned and sprinted off down to the lake.

"I got this Jen," Jack said as he raced off after him. It was clear he was not going to let him run from his demons this time. After all, it never worked and they always caught up with you in the end.

Paige felt a tear trickle down her face. Up until then there Fourth of July had been going pretty well.

But now it felt as if it was ruined.

She looked about to see Kim worried, her grandfather red faced and furious. Hope and Aiden were looking concerned and then finally, she looked over to Steve and Kayla.

Kayla had Tate in her arms and her eyes were wide. She had not heard what had gone on but she knew the two of them well enough to know just what had gone on between father and son.

Steve had come over to try and break up the fight and was clearly aggravated by all that had gone on. She remembered the last time she had looked over to where the Johnson's had set up for the day, he and Kayla looked as if they could spend a million more days like this, but now Steve was angry and Kayla looked like a startled deer.

Paige had no doubt the two were connected.

"Do you think JJ is going to be ok?" she said tearfully as her grandmother kept an arm about her.

"My darling girl, I think that should be the least of your worries right now. Let's just see that you are going to be ok."

"It is just a bust lip. I am sure I will survive."

X x x

Joey had been playing in the water when things had begun to kick off with his family. The first thing he knew about it was when he heard raised voices.

He had been about to go up when he saw his cousin run past the lake like a bat out of hell and pretty soon he saw his Uncle Jack was running after him.

That was all it took to prompt him to go up to the camp.

When he got there he saw his Aunt Kim was taking her grandson from his mom and Shane was packing up there chairs.

As for Paige, she was nursing a bleeding lip.

"What's happened?" he asked as he asked as he approached his mom and dad.

Both of them looked shaken though his father definitely just looked more pissed.

"What is it? What's up with JJ?"

"He – he is just going through some stuff," said Steve as he kept his arms about Kayla.

"What stuff?"

Looking at Joe, he wondered if he knew the truth about his mothers and his uncles past. The one thing Steve knew was he had not told Joe and he never wanted too.

"Stuff I do not think you strictly need to know about."

"Adult stuff," scoffed Joey.

He was getting tired of hearing that.

"Yes. Adult stuff," Steve agreed as he looked as his boy. And he was still a boy yet. "You know there is going to come a time when I won't be able to protect you from stuff which I want to protect you from. But we are not there yet. So let me protect you from this."

Whether it was the way he had said it or what he had said Steve did not know. But his son looked up at him with his eyes, which were so liked his mamas, wide.

"Is it really that bad?"

Steve nodded. Every bit and worst. The day he had found out Kayla had been raped lived in his memory like a demon. He remembered the rage he had felt and the shame she had waited so long before coming to him and the sheer longing to take away every bit of pain she had ever felt.

He leaned forward and kissed his sons head.

"What went on here today was bad. And what has got to JJ is bad. But I promise you we are going to work it all out between us. But today is the Fourth of July so you should go down to the lake and play with your buddies. You have had enough to worry about lately, Joe."

Steve knew even as his son nodded that that was not going to hold him off for ever. He was, after all, a Johnson.

There was a day when he was going to come to him or maybe Kayla with questions about the past and they were going to have to look their boy in the eye and tell him the terrible truth.

But not that day.

With reluctance Joey did as his father said and set off for the lake again, for it was quite clear he was not going to get the answers which he wanted that day.

X x x

"Are we not going out today?" Elsa asked as she came into the Kiriakis living room to find Justin working with papers all around him.

Her tone was a little more clipped than it had been in previous days. The truth was she was beginning to feel more than a little bored with being written as the villain of the piece with near no back up from him.

She had come to Salem to surprise him. She had thought they might be able to pick up where they had left off and have a great time together here.

He had said he loved her, in the same conversation which he had admitted how much he loved this place. So she had got to thinking that…. that having the women he loved in the place which he loved could only be a good thing.

But apparently not.

Ever since she had got there he had been distant and he had been worried. They had gone out for some nice dinners but it was nothing like it had been in Dubai. It was as if, _if_ there had any been any magic between the two of them they had left it there.

And now it was the a holiday. A time to blow everything else off and have a little fun. And here they were sitting about the house.

When she had been planning the day she had suggested to him they head to the lake. She had seen flyers all about the town advertising the family day that went on there and thought it would be fun to go. But he had said no. No, they were not going to go to the picnic. And so she had said they might go to another beach or out to dinner or even just for a walk.

But now the day had come and they weren't even doing that.

"I have some case notes to go over –"

"It's the July 4th, it would not kill you to pay me some attention." She said before she could keep it inside. She had not meant to let her anger out but she he held her tongue too long.

For the first time since she had come into the room, he looked up.

But he still said nothing and she felt the same ache in side of her she had felt for weeks.

She had tried and she had tried.

"You don't look at me the way you used too, but you don't even seem to care. Do you want me to go?" she asked.

"I – Elsa, listen –"

"It is a very simple question."

"I –"

That was not the response which she had been looking for.

"And you just gave me your answer," she said as she headed over to the window. "You know I turned up here as a surprise for you. I didn't not even consider the fact you did not ask me to come because deep down you never wanted me here. Stupid girl."

"Elsa, I did love you."

"'Did'? Are we in the past already. Of course, I have seen it in your eyes every day that deep down all you want to do is go rushing back to your wife but I did not think our love was past already. Tell me did you ever stop loving her?"

"No."

"And that is the one question you can answer without hesitation, without stumbling."

Justin sighed but nodded. Ever since she had come, he had been lying to himself but right then, more than ever, he had thought of Adrienne. She was all consuming, her face in her thoughts.

He knew she would have spent the day at the lake with her family. He knew she would have a huge smile on her face and be with her beloved big brothers and… And their son would have been there with his daughter. He should be there with him, with his family. He had no idea how he was going to get her back. But he would get her back.

"Adrienne and I have a long history –"

"And if you have your way then you are going to have a bright future too," she said with a mixture of defeat and disgust in her voice. "I am going to go pack."

"Where will you go?"

"Do you truly care?" she asked as she turned and left the living room.

He knew he should feel sad. And he did. But more than that, there was relief flooding through him.

X x x

JJ collapsed round the other side of the lake, tears running down his face, feeling as if he could not breathe.

It was not meant to be this way. None of it was meant to be this way.

For starters, he did not know how he was ever going to get the image of Paige's bloody nose out of his head – ever.

That was because of him. He had done that to her and it was just another way which he had hurt her.

He had cheated on her with her own mother and then – then this.

He had hoped there was going to be a way back for them but now he knew that was not going to be the case.

He had no hope left.

"JJ."

"I hit her. She is hurt and it is all my fault," he said as he put his head in his hand. He pulled it away quickly.

"You did not mean too. There was no intent there."

"It doesn't matter about what I meant to do. I was just so angry." He felt Jack sit down beside him… to his surprise, he did not shift away. "Do you know when the two of us first got together we were so happy. I was so happy. I had been a mess up to that point and when she came in to my life it was as if it was going to make sense. For the first time in a long time," JJ admitted. "I started slow with Paige. The other girls – we had moved kinda fast but I knew everything meant something to her and with her so I wanted to take it slow. And then –"

But he knew he could not confide these things in Jack. Not him. The words he had already said would have spilled out no matter who had come after him. But he couldn't say anymore to his father.

He could not tell him how scared he was that he just like him. After he had found out what his dad had done, there was a time when he did not think he was ever going to be able to allow himself to be with anyone, for fear of what he was going to do to them. It was in his very DNA to hurt them. And he would rather cut it off than do what his father did.

"I know."

"How can you possibly know?"

"I do."

And there was something in his father's tone that made him believe it.

Jack felt a sadness spread through him, the like of which he had never felt before. Because when he looked at JJ all he could see was himself as he had been when he was young. Well, not that young but…

But after Harper. Before that he had been naïve. It was only after he had lost his father that he had had to face up to so many truths and the first of those was that his father had been neither a good nor a kind man. Perhaps Jack had always known the senator was not kind to all but he thought – he had thought of Harper as some kind of all-powerful god. But he had not been that. The day that he had found out Harper was an evil man was the day he had felt everything he had ever believe in break.

So yes, he knew what it was to fear your father and to fear the part of him which was inside of you. He got that more than JJ could ever know. Because he had to live with it twice over. Once from Harper and then again from Duke.

"JJ, I hate myself every single day for what I did to your aunt."

"Poor you." His son bite back.

"No – poor you. If you think you are anything like me at all. Because you're not. Because believe it or not… your intent and your motives are what make you a better man than I could ever be."

JJ looked at his father then. He had been doing so before but he really _looked_ in to his father's face then. He tried to find the evil he had thought resided there and couldn't.

He had imagined – so many times – when he had believed his father to be dead how this conversation would go. He had thought about how he was going to yell at him. How he was going to enjoy seeing the light fade in his father's face, how he would hurt him. He had even thought about given him a good hiding to boot.

For Kayla, that was what he had always said.

There had been one invariable in those imagery scenes though. His father's face had been full of menace.

He had been a man who had raped before and who could rape again.

But when he looked at his father in the living flesh that was not what he saw.

He saw man who was quiet and still. A man who was sorry. A man who was aging faster than maybe he should do.

And, yes, deep down he saw a man who understood.

JJ put his head in his hands. He _wanted_ to hate him with every fibre of his being but he couldn't.

"I know it seems as if nothing could ever get better now but I swear to you it can," Jack sighed.

He did not want his son to think that this was it.

"I don't want it to get better, I want to have not hurt Paige."

"You can't go back. There aren't any take backs in this life. That is the one lesson which I have had to learn time and time again. But if you are truly sorry… there is going to be a way… for you to - to live with what you did…"

JJ looked up at him. "That sounds like something you got from mom."

"That is the wonderful thing about the Hortons… and the Johnson's and the Brady's for that matter. They somehow find a way to love the sinner even if they hate the sin."

X x x

"Well, today has a dampened on it now," said Steph as she walked up to her father.

Steve wished it was not the truth as they had all been having such a lovely day up till then but he knew it very much _was_ the truth.

"It is a real shame, little sweetness."

Steph nodded. "Listen, do you mind if I sleep out tonight? Abby is just really upset about everything and I think Aunt Jen is going to wait here for Jack and JJ but I want to get her home. She is just – she needs to get out."

Steve nodded. He understood that and he was glad his daughter was being such a great friend to her cousin. He knew the two had had their moments, much as he and Jack had but they seemed to be close now.

"Sure, that's fine." He said as she leaned up to give him a kiss.

"See you later, papa."

Unfortunately, it did seem as if the day was drawing to a close and Steve was sorry for it. He knew he was not the only one who felt that way when he looked at Bo.

With the Donovan's departing and the others leaving too, Hope and Aiden were off which meant Ciara was going home.

"Not quite the day you had in mind, Bo?" he asked as if his best friend.

But Bo just shrugged.

"I had no expectations." It was he knew the best way to approach the day. "What do you make of Jennings?"

Steve shrugged. Forming an opinion of the man had not been high on his to do list.

"Not a lot," he knew he should not make a call based on the fact he was making life tough for Bo, but it was hard when he and Bo went back such a long time. The two of them had had a fierce bond and that meant a fierce loyalty.

They shared a look. Bo was about to continue the conversation when Kayla came up and stood between them. Steve knew that he could once more hold her, which made it impossible to resist doing so and he wrapped his arms about her and kissed her forehead.

Bo could not help but smile at the two of them.

It was like the old days.

"How's my sweetness?" he heard Steve sigh, as he pushed his lips to her forehead. As much as there was a lot wrong going on about them, what was going on between them… Bo knew them being together was right.

'Shall we go home too?' Kayla signed. No one was having a very good time day more and if they headed back then they were going to be able to check in on Adrienne.

But, of course, as soon as Steve thought of Adrienne he also thought of Jack and he wanted very much to wait and see he was ok before they left… but he had sworn long ago he would never put his brother above her.

'Yeah, let's do that baby.'

In the end, Steve and Kayla left the lake on their own. Joe had, to Steve's surprise, done as he had asked and, with the help of young Theo Carver, he was enjoying himself again. In fact the boys were having so much fun they were not ready for it to end. Thus when Abe said he was happy to take Joey for the night so they could have a sleep over, it seemed at least their Fourth of July would go on.

Which meant Steve and Kayla would be on their own. With the apartment to themselves. All night long.

X x x

Hope sighed as she put the picnic blanket back in the bag.

So much for their long day by the lake.

"I am so sorry we have to cut today short," said Hope.

For all the fact it was a coming to an end it had been nice.

"Me too," he said and she made no attempt to reply. She was glad for the quiet.

She was not particularly close to her cousin these days but it did hurt her to see him in so much pain. And young Paige…

Well, this was going to ripple. It already was rippling. Going home to a bit of peace and quiet would be nice.

"A date night," Aiden suddenly announced, speaking just a little louder than he had been before.

"What?" she asked as she spun around to face him. He put his arms around her once more, just as he had done that morning.

"I am going to take you on a nice, romantic date night," once more the last two words were emphasised as he drew her into his arms. "Tomorrow."

"That's sounds very nice," she said happily bemused as she put her head on his shoulder.

She didn't understand what all of this was about until she saw the slightly dejected figure of Bo Brady, heading back to the car, having just passed them.

X x x

Jack and JJ walked back to the lake silently but side by side.

There was still so much left unsaid between them and Jack knew they had a long road to walk but for the first time he had real hope that they might perhaps walk down it together. By the time they had returned, the clearing where they had all set up the blankets and picnics together had emptied out considerably.

Just Jen and Marcus remained. The doctor may have really been his brother's best friend but he had been a good friend to them too over the years as well. He had been the best man at their wedding.

Jack was thoroughly grateful Marcus had stayed and not left Jen on her own. Especially when he saw the look on her face.

It was only when she saw their son that he felt she could breathe again.

"Oh honey, are you ok?" she said as she cupped his face. JJ shook her off.

"It does not matter about me, is Paige ok?" he asked.

"She is going to be fine. I think she was like me, just worried about you," she said.

JJ shrugged. He did not know how he felt. He still didn't know.

"I am going to walk home."

And with that he stalked off once more. But this time he was at least going in the right direction with purpose.

Jen wished there was a point in arguing against it but she knew her boy. He had his mind set.

The one advantage of that was that she was only with Jack, Marcus having withdrawn once he saw they were ok. No doubt her husband had found the whole thing as trying as she had. More so in fact…

"What about you? Are you ok?"

Jack was no surer of how he was than his son. But he did know one thing.

"I have made a start." It was the one good thing about all of this.

Jen smiled sadly as she took his hand. For all the sorrow of them day, a start sounded good to her. In fact, it sounded very good.

X x x

Maybe it was because they had been down by the lake but Steve had not noticed how hot that day had become until the evening drew in. In the wake of the golden sun, there was simply mugginess and heat.

Thus as soon as he was out the shower, he was off to the kitchen for a nice cool bear.

He had checked on Adrienne, who seemed in pretty good spirits, before he had gone back to Kayla's so he did not have to go out again that day and he was glad of it.

He could not think of anything much better than an evening alone with his sweetness. Perhaps the two of them might even have a cuddle again. That's be nice he thought to himself.

He made his way to the living room to find Kayla there already – she had changed and showered when he had been with is sister so he was not surprised to see she had a small pair of shorts and a lacy top which she obviously wore to bed on.

Still, it did things to him which he had not been entirely prepared for.

He went over to the couch and set his bottle of beer next to the small glass of wine she was indulging in.

It was only then he realised that most likely she was that she was not even on her pain meds any more. She was healing. She was nearly healed, save for her hearing and speech. Then there were the emotional wounds. It went without saying they would take longer to heal, but they did not seem to be paining her that evening.

That was why he found her stance so peculiar. She had her back to him and her iPod in her hand, as if she was considering something. Whatever it was, it had to be for his benefit.

"Kayla?" he asked pointlessly. Still… as he came up behind her it was as if she had heard him.

She turned when she felt he was her behind her and he was quite taken aback again by just how beautifully blue her eyes really were. And then how determined the look in them was.

She hit the middle button, set the iPod on the dock and made her way back to the sofa as the song begun to play, leading him by the hand as she did so.

' _You know baby, I'm so happy to be here with you tonight.'_

Donna Summer's voice was making nothing easier for him considering the way that she looked right then.

His mind swam back across the years to another hot night, a glass of water full of ice cubes and a roof top.

"What do you think you are doing baby?" he murmured as she looked at him. He didn't have to sign. She was going to understand him perfectly, he knew that.

But the problem was he understood her perfectly too. And he knew he did not have what it took in him to back off from this point. He didn't know if he should or where to turn when her little hands rested on his shoulders. He remembered how it had always been like this for the two of them. Like they were two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that came together perfectly.

Then her lips where on his and he swore of their own accord his hands found her lower back.

It had been so long since they had been together, too long.

He drew back when he found himself trailing eager kisses down her neck. He hadn't anticipated this. This was not why he had moved on. But there was no use in denying it was just what he wanted.

He held back just long enough to look in to her eyes. To know this was just what she wanted too.

And when he saw that, there was no more hold back.

Their hands were in each other's hair and sliding off each other's clothes and their lips seemed to be trying to cover every inch of each other's bodies.

Steve swept down, picked Kayla up and carried her to her bedroom. He shut the door behind them, leaving Donna Summer singing to herself…

 _It's so easy with you… to be the woman in me._

 _Please review!_


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

When the sun came up, Steve was still just where he belonged. By Kayla's side.

He had thought about sneaking out when he had come to that morning but when it came down to it, he was beginning to be sure they always over thought things. That was their problem.

When they got down to business and did what felt right. That was when the worked best.

And so he lay at her side and let her rest her head on his chest when she rolled over. He strummed his fingers through blonde her hair and just thought about how perfect she was even after all this time.

Seasons were going to come and they were going to go and the world could change utterly and the one thing he knew that was never going to change was the fact he was in love with her. With a girl named Kayla.

Deeply. And desperately. She just took his breathe away, it was as simple as that.

He sighed as he realised how lucky he was. God knows why but it seemed as if she had given him another chance. And he was going to take it and he was going to run with it. He was not going to be making any of his past mistakes, they were over.

He was going to focus on her and the kids and make sure they had a nice life together. They were going to be a real family this time. He would get a steady job and he was going to come home every evening – and everything was going to work itself out because it had to.

He ran a hand through her hair again and he heard her come too, sighing deeply as she did so. That morning, fifth of July 2015, really had come too soon.

He pushed a kiss to her forehead as she opened her eyes.

"Morning sweetness," he said. It had been too long since he had been the first to greet her in the morning. She must have read his lips from the smile that came on to her face.

She pushed her lips to his neck in greeting. The only thing that would have been better was to hear her say the words in return, but that was going to come in time. For the two of them, everything had always had its time and he had to remember that. All he had to do now was wait. Steve could be patient. It wasn't his favourite thing, but he could be patient.

While Kayla woke up properly the two of them just held each other. With the kids out, there was no reason for them to be getting out of bed until she looked up at him with her big blue eyes and signed she was hungry.

'Then I had better get you breakfast, Madame,' he said as he got up, leaning back only to kiss her again.

She caressed his cheek as she lay back in the sheets, pleasantly exhausted from the night before.

X x x

Breakfast was a lazy affair for Kayla. She let Steve do the cooking and dote on her as he was clearly in the mood to do and that was not something she had never had a problem with, as long as it did not over extend to coddling her.

Doting she could take.

Once they had eaten together, she had gone to take a shower. For a moment she had considered asking him to join her but the kids were due back soon. Having them catch them… that was not the way to tell them that she and Steve were back together.

So they had to be ready. Still as the hot water run over her she could not help but remember the night before and she flushed when she realised she was sensitive for a whole other reason that day than she had been previously.

Finally, things were picking up for her. For them.

She then got dressed, avoiding the jogging pants and tops she had been wearing since she had been home in favour of a peach summer dress. It was far more appropriate for the season and it was time she came back to herself. Whether she could hear or not, she was not the person she had… she had allowed herself to be since she had come home. It was time to be Kayla again, she decided.

She towel dried her hair before she clipped it up, leaving some strands either side hanging playfully. In the mirror she saw Steve come to the door and watch her for just a moment.

She turned to him.

'Have I told you how beautiful you are lately? Cause you are. You're beautiful sweetness.'

She grinned as he walked towards her and put his hands on her hips. She thought about all the promises she had made to herself about on relying on him and not trusting him and then she looked in to his eyes.

She knew this was not about dependence. This was about the fact the two of them had been in love since the day she had literally bumped into at Shenanigans. It had taken a long time for the two of them to both be able to recognize it for what it was. But they had done.

The truth was, Kayla just did not want to fight that. Not anymore.

She lay her head against his chest and let him cuddle her close, relishing the sensation of being so close to him again.

So lost were they in their own world, that the kids came to the door before Steve knew they were back.

X x x

By the time that JJ got out of bed, Stephanie had already left the Horton house and he was glad of it. That morning he did not want to see anyone really but he knew he owed it to his mother and sister to talk to them.

The more he thought about the way he had behaved the day before the more he felt ashamed of himself.

And it was not just the fact that he had hit Paige. It was the fact that he had gone for his dad at all. There were as million reasons why that should not have happened.

The first was, whether he liked it or not, he and Jack were father and son and he was beginning to see that he was going to have to square and make peace with that.

The second reason was that the day before had been a family day. And not just even for his family, immediate and extended. There were families from all over Salem there, moms and dads with their little kids. That was no place for violence.

And the third was there was just no excuse for behaviour like that anywhere. He had displayed the same type of violence which he had sworn to hate.

There was not going to be a repeat performance. He promised himself that.

He walked into the kitchen to see his mother and his sister were there. While Jen looked as if she ready to talk to him it was clear Abigail was still pissed as hell.

He didn't blame her.

"How you doing?" his mother asked softly as he came into the room.

"I – I am ok. Just… I am sorry. Really sorry."

"For which bit? For trying to attack our dad, for hitting Paige or for running off?" asked his sister.

"All of it."

"That's not helpful, Abby," Jen murmured as JJ replied. "I know your sorry JJ, but that can't ever happen again."

"It won't. I didn't mean to mess up. And I promise it is not going to be happening again."

He waited for his sister to say that was just what he had done whether he had meant to or not but she didn't. He wondered if he could be making progress that soon. He hoped against hope that she could hear how sincere he was.

His mother nodded.

"I'll – I will call… dad. I – I should not have gone off at him."

"How did your talk last night go?"

"With dad?" JJ shrugged. Even if he could put it into words then he did not think he would be ready to talk about it with anyone else. Not yet. What his father had said to him was private. "Ok. It was ok."

For the first time that morning he was sure he could see his sister soften a little. Even the way she had been standing had told him she was not happy but now she looked as if she was a little more relaxed. Who ever knew that she was such a daddy's girl, he thought to himself. But then he had been so young when Jack had gone that he would have had no chance of knowing that. Maybe the others already did.

"Good," Jen replied backing off. She was not going to fish anymore.

She grab his arm and squeezed it affectionately before she left the room leaving her two kids alone.

"Are you ok?" JJ checked.

Abby nodded. "Yeah… I am." She said as she too made to left the room. Just as she was about to leave it she turned back and gave a small smile to her hot headed brother and somehow he knew she was sorry to.

For pushing him, for making a dig… and for not making enough effort to understand how he felt. But, they were moving on now. She was ok. He was ok.

Maybe someday soon they would all be ok.

X x x

Since her grandma and grandpa had moved into the new house Paige found she was spending more time there than she was her student dorm. It was nice to have a real home once more.

But she was not sure if that was the case the more after 4th July.

"Morning," she said as she walked in to the kitchen.

"Good morning, my sweetheart," said Shane and he came towards her., his face contorted as he saw her lip.

"I do not want any fuss," she shrugged him off insistently she sat at the breakfast bar.

Kim poured a coffee for her granddaughter. For the first time she was glad Theresa and that had not yet moved in as it was obvious they had to be focusing on this young lady and this grandchild of theirs right then.

She ran a hand through her red hair.

"Have you heard anything about yesterday?" Paige asked coyly as she looked up.

It was clear she was really asking if they had heard anything about JJ.

"No and if we are lucky then we are not going to," her grandfather replied.

Paige just could not agree with that. She needed to know was what going on with him. Knowing there was a not a lot of point in trying to get her grandpa to understand that, she picked up her coffee mumbling something about a shower.

"You know that kind of attitude is going to get you nowhere," Kim said to her husband.

Not in this situation.

"Kimberley, after all that boy has done to her –" Shane spluttered as he tried to find the words. "After all he had done to this family –"

She put her hands over his.

"My love, they are teens… and this is Salem. Which makes it the home of inappropriate relationships and feelings."

He smiled grimly at how true that was.

X x x

"You know in a weird way I am glad it all kicked off yesterday."

The cup of steaming coffee stood by the cup of herbal tea. Adrienne knew which once she wanted but she also what one she was going to have and the answer to that was the once which was best for her baby.

She picked up the tea.

"How so?"

"Because I know that even though we have a very long way to go, JJ and I - my son and I - we might be able to work things out. Even just a little bit."

Adrienne could not help but be delighted by those words. It was the smile it put on her brothers face that did it. Jack was never going to be a happy or a contented man while he and JJ were at odds. Even just the fear that he was not going to be able to do that had put him in a black mood since he had been home.

Still she had not realised that things were beginning to move along. She feared it was all worse when he had got back but now it was obviously not the case. He had been pale, but that she could see now was obvious just the initial reaction. A night's sleep and some time to reflect had done Jack a world of good.

She wasn't so worried now.

"I am pleased for you – you can't know how much."

"Thank you. So how are you?"

"I am getting used to the idea theirs is going to be a new lovely person in my life," she said with a grin. "But I also know I have to get ready for them and therefore get my life in order."

"So…" Jack prompted. It was clear she had a plan of how to do that.

"So I am going to go to Lucas and I am going to tell him whatever the two of us were… is over. I need to focus on us," she said as she ran a hand over her stomach.

She was beginning to feel pregnant now.

She had found out just in time it seemed, as she realised she was beginning to show. She wondered how long it would have taken her to work out on her own…

Adrienne was just glad she did know, and therefore could start taking better care of them both.

"Sis, I do not mean to ask a personal question but there is a chance that he is the father, isn't there?"

Adrienne paused for a minute but then she nodded as she knew she had too.

"There is, but I – I do not love him and I can't stay with him just for the sake of the baby. That would not be any good – well, for any of us. If he is then we can cross that bridge when we come to it."

"I think that is a wise decision," he said approvingly.

"You do?"

He nodded. "You can't make yourself love someone you don't and you definitely should not be with someone who you can't love." he knew from very bitter experience that that way lay ruination.

She looked at him knowingly. Nodding, she sighed. She knew she was doing the right thing.

Lucas was a good man. But he was not the man for her.

X x x

"So it does seem as if you and mom are back on," said Steph as she sat down at the breakfast bar.

Her father looked at her and nodded.

Well, at least he wasn't lying. She had seen this was going to happen from the moment that her dad had got back to town so it was no great surprise for her.

But she glad she had had a chance to talk to her uncle Marcus about it all before it had happened. It had given her a clearer perspective.

"You know, what? I do not think the two of us can have this conversation again. Stick around and don't hurt her… that's all…" she said as she worked hard to put her reservations aside.

"Are you really ok with this?"

"You know what in spite of everything I – well… it is every little girls dream to have her mom and dad home and happy together isn't it?"

And may be that was why she had found in with in herself to come round to the idea of her parents being together all over again.

At least it was for her. She remembered when she had been a really little girl she had hated no one as much as the kids In her class who took their parents been together or even alive for granted. She had missed her dad so much and she had wished and wished he was going to come back to her and her mum and in the end the impossible had happened. And he had. So maybe this was another one of those times when the Johnson family was going to work another miracle.

And maybe – just maybe it was all going to work out for her mom and dad.

She had a feeling her mother believed it was going to. When she had saw the way she was looking at her dad that morning… her mother's face had just come to life. She wanted her to know that type of happiness again more than anything.

"You know what I do not think you are ever going to be able to know, baby girl, just how grateful I am to hear you say that," sighed Steve as he took his daughter in his arms. "Thank you."

He would have been there with Kayla no matter what but it mattered to him that he had the blessing of his daughter. He did not want anything to set the four of them against one another just then.

The four of them had to be team if they were going to get Kayla fighting fit again and it did seem as if that was just what they were being. Joey had been grinning ear to ear ever since he had got home that morning.

"It is all going to be alright now, little sweetness. I promise." Steve murmured.

"I hope so," his daughter returned. "I really do hope so."

"I love you so much."

"I love you too, papa."

X x x

"You're quiet tonight."

"Am I?"

Hope was still wondering why she gone out with Aiden that night at all.

She guessed she knew the reason to that deep down was because she had not wanted to let Bo come between them. But, no matter what she did, Aiden had let that happen yesterday…

Now she was left feeling frustrated with Aiden, and if the truth were known- would be at home with her Ciara that evening. But she had not had her way.

"You know you are – what is it?"

She was not sure how to answer him. And so she just gave it to him straight. There was no way to sugar coat it.

"Why did you feel the need to show off in front of Bo at the lake yesterday? He knows the two of us are together, is that not enough?"

Aiden looked taken a back about what she had spoken about – what she had said out loud – but not exactingly surprise. In fact she had a feeling he had been expecting this from the way he looked down and then up at her with surety in his eyes, almost as if she had prepared for this moment.

She guessed that was feasible. After all, he was a lawyer.

"I – you know what, baby, you're right and I know you are. But he was just such a jack ass to you and I don't like the guy. I just… I just want him to know how happy we are."

"Do you not think it is up to _me_ to deal with him because of what he did to _me_? And no matter what else he is always going to be the father of my children. I don't want to fight with him, or upset him if it can be avoided."

"And we are never going to be allowed to forget that as long as he is here is here are we?"

"Whether he is here or not I am never going to forget that, that he is Ciara's dad and Shawn Douglas's… and Zach's," she stumbled a little. "And after all I have been through with Bo I would not want too."

"So there it is. Is it always going to come back to what the two of you were?"

She wondered on that question for a moment. There had been a time when she would not have had to think about it – she just would have said yes. That of course it was going to come back to her and Bo and the past which they shared by the very virtue of the fact it was her and Bo.

But things were not like that anymore and she had made the choice that she was going to get over them. Get over what they had been.

"No – but there are some parts of our past we can't leave behind no matter how much we might want too."

That was just a fact of life. He had to accept that.

"Of course there are." She knew enough about his past to know there were moments in his life which he wasn't so proud of. Things he would like to forget but couldn't. Yet they made him who he was in a way.

"Why don't the two of us just focus on enjoying tonight?" he suggested. It was so rare that they were alone with no interruptions.

And part of Hope wanted to nod and say 'yes! Yes, let's do that'… but she could not find it in her that evening. She could only nod without enthusiasm. But she did not think she could follow through with having a good time.

She was sure Aiden was about to question her, to go on saying things she was not sure she wanted to hear and so she was glad when there dinners came and once more they could lapse into silence as they ate their meal.

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	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

The short drive to the police station had been full of purpose, but now Bo was honestly a little hesitant as he got to Hope's office. He had not seen her since the day of picnic and things had not been great there… but that had had nothing to do with what was or wasn't going on between them.

He remembered the last time he had been here. Things had not been great between them but he was sure they were on the up now. They were talking civilly, which was a vast improvement. He wanted more but when he had left… well, he had given that up. Civil was more than he could hope for and he was getting that.

He had to be grateful.

Besides, he had to go in there. He thought about what Steve had said about finding new place to start. It had been good advice. He knocked on the door and only opened it up when he was called in.

"Hey…" he said stopping short. If he had carried on he would have called her 'Fancy Face'. But if he was honest, he was not sure if he had the night to any more.

"Bo, hi," Hope said as she sat back in her chair.

"How are you?"

She was not sure if she was honest. Not after the night before. The date night had got no less awkward as the evening had gone on and Aiden and she had ended up in their separate homes before ten.

But he was not the one who she should be confiding all of this in.

"I am ok, how are you?" she returned.

"I am - I am doing better. Um… I actually came here to see my brother but I was told he was out."

"Yeah, he had to go out to a conference today. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yeah, can you just please give these to him?" he said as he passed her some forms in an envelope.

"Of course, can I know what is inside?" She asked raising her eyebrow.

He nodded. "I am applying for reinstatement."

"On the Salem PD?" she said as she raised her eye brows.

Hope smiled. "Of course, it is. That is great, Brady."

So there were some roots he was setting down. Proof positive he was staying.

They were never going to be together personally again but that did not go to say she did not want to work with him professionally again. He was a damn good cop and she would be honoured to be his partner in the Police department again.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "The streets are going to be a lot safer if you are here."

He smiled – both of them had always wanted that. _"If_ I am taken back on…"

"How does it feel to know you are at Roman's mercy?"

"You know…. Well, it pretty much sucks."

Hope burst out laughing before she remembered she was not meant to find him funny anymore.

X x x

Justin felt as if he could breathe easier with Elsa gone. He felt that as soon as she left the house, but especially as _he_ did the day after.

It had been with just a small bit of sadness he had watched her go. The two of them had had some good times but what they were had got way out of hand and he was well aware that he was an idiot for even letting it begin in the first place. Never mind letting it get out of hand.

But now she was gone and he felt as if he was going to be able to begin the rebuild now. To rebuild his life and to somehow get Adrienne back.

The night she had left he had found himself heart sick to be without her. They had just passed one of the most pleasant evenings together they had had in a long time. When they were together he could remember why they had started up in the first place.

There was a fire and there was a passion and he could remember the young Adrienne Johnson who had come to town looking for her big brother to insist he help her and her mother. She had been so plucky and she had had so much courage. That had turned out to be handy once she had moved in with Victor. The two of them had gone toe to toe over the years and she had lived to tell the tale, which not everyone would have.

He wanted her back. He wanted their family back. He wanted the boys to know just how much he loved and respected their mother. And he knew all of that sounded very cheap just then as he had given none of them any reason to believe that.

But he did love her and he did respect her.

And he was going to get her back.

He left the hospital board meeting he had attended morning with that thought in his head. He had been distracted throughout so he was not too sure what had gone on…

But at least he had his objective.

Now he just had to work out how he was going to achieve his aim.

He arrived at the elevator, pushed the button and waited.

The door to the lift opened and he was about to get ride in and head down to the bottom floor when Adrienne came out with Steve and Kayla… but she was the one who mattered. She was always the one who had mattered.

"Adrienne, what are you doing here?" he asked surprised.

X x x

"Oh I – I am just here for Kayla's check-up -"

"Yeah and if we do not get going soon then we are going to be late," said Steve as he swept his two girls away from Dimples.

Kayla looked at Adrienne knowingly for she knew better than ever how over protective Steve could be when it came to those he loved. But a look at Adrienne and she knew the other women was grateful for her brother's protection just then. Telling Justin she was pregnant was something which she knew she had to do but she was not at all ready to do.

Breaking it off with Lucas had been a lot easier. He had sweet and kind to her and a very good friend when she had needed him but what the two of them shared was not even on the same level as what she had with Justin.

"Thank you," she said to Steve once they were far enough away from the elevator.

"You do not have to thank me, baby."

She nodded. She knew he would say something like that… "I am going to have to tell him in the end though, aren't I?"

Then it was his turn to nod.

Her brother was a moral man for all the fact he would love others to believe otherwise.

And she knew deep down Steve would know Justin had to know.

But not yet.

"Are you sure you are going to be ok on your own?"

"Yes Steve, I am going to be fine. It is just a couple of tests. Go on, you, get Kayla to her appointment," she said as she gave her sister in law a kiss for luck.

It was a big day for both of them.

And besides, Adrienne was aware that her brother was not going to want to come with her even if he would have if she'd ask. Kayla needed him and he was only too aware of that.

"I'll be fine alone. I will see you guys back in the waiting room."

Justin, at that moment, was heading back to his own car, determinedness having given way to concern.

If there was one thing Justin was sure of it was that Adrienne was not here for Kayla, Steve could have brought here on his own. They had been lying.

He was not sure why but the one thing he was sure of was that he was going to get to the bottom of it.

X x x

Steve held Kayla's hand as they sat before Marcus in Doctor Jonas's office. Daniel stood to the side of the desk.

It was the last time they would met here: Homey would soon have his own office.

Marcus had worked fast when he had seen a position open up at University Hospital. He had applied and fast and got on the staff once more, not due to any nepotism but due to his genuine skill as a doctor. And as soon as he had got the job, Marcus had taken the lead on Kayla case, through the patient's choice.

Though his specialism was plastic surgery, Kayla was sure as he had been there to witness it all he was going to get a quick, firm grasp on her medical history. That was what she needed right then.

Steve knew it was still no guarantee that everything was going to be ok but it did make him feel better. He trusted Marcus implicitly, even and especially with that which was most precious to him. He would put Kayla's health above everything.

Still he could not help but feel as if he was edge, the entire time Kayla was being examined. All he wanted to do was protect her.

"Well from what I see Kayla is soon going to be ready for the op. I would say very soon," Marcus said he turned to the two of them, once he was finished.

Steve signed the good news in turn to Kayla.

"This is great!" said Steve. Yes, it meant she had to go in to theatre but the results were going to be worth it.

He remembered the last time he had signed those words to her. She had been so afraid. She had turned and ran from him for a while but once more he was reminded this time was very different to the one before.

She knew she had everything to gain.

He turned to see she was nodding with a look of determination in her face. There was no need to talk her in to the operation this time.

"I propose we get a theatre slot booked for some time next week," Marcus continued and Jonas agreed. While they had not followed his advice he wanted his chief of staff back at full strength. That was going to be a fine day indeed.

Kayla smiled as she held on to Steve's hand. She could only concur with them, as Steve continued to translate for her. It was high time.

As far as she was concerned, the sooner she had it, the sooner she had would hear her babies voices... and the sooner she could tell Steve the way she felt.

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	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

"So that is huge news that mom has got a date for her op," said Stephanie as she and Joey sat together in the lounge.

Her younger brother gave a nod. It was.

After their mum and dad had got back from the hospital they had given them a heads up that it was going to be happening imminently but then all of a sudden… they had a date.

Joey wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"And then after she is going to be able to hear and talk again."

"Just hear, to begin with. Uncle Marcus said that her speech could come back any time."

"I know, I can't believe that someone could just like – lose their voice like that," admitted Joey.

It was a lot for him to get his head round. And the thing was everyone was saying it was because of some sort of emotional trauma.

Maybe if they knew what had happened to make his mom swerve off of the road then it would all make a little more sense. But it didn't. And whenever she had been asked she had seemed freaked out so he was not going to add to that.

But he did want to know.

"I know – it – it's odd," his sister nodded but he knew from her tone of voice the same thoughts were running about in her head as they were his.

She reached over and kissed the top of his head.

"It'll be ok, bugs."

That was when there dad came into the room.

"Are you guys alright?" he checked. It was not every day you found out your mother was going for surgery the next week after all.

"Yeah. I mean we knew this was coming and it is what is best for mama, right?" Stephanie smiled, nudging her brother.

Joe gave a nod. As scary as all of this was they had to focus on the positives. And what was on the other side of this gave them a lot of cause to be positive.

"Right. The sooner she has this op, the better… for all of us."

X x x

"Can you believe this? I have actually been asked round to dinner with my family," said Jack as he got off the phone with Jennifer.

His sister grinned, "Wonders will never cease. You said you and JJ had finally begun to make some progress and it does seem as if the proof is going to be in the pudding. Quite literally, if the four of you make it to afters."

Jack mussed his sister's hair in a playful response.

As much as he wanted to be back where he was sure he belonged, it hit him then that if he did ever get to move back in with Jen, then he was going to miss all the time he had got with his sister.

They had never been together like this was when they were young. It was nice to finally have some proper extended time together, especially with Steve popping across whenever he felt like it. This was what it was meant to be like when you had siblings, Jack was sure of that.

"Well, you are not wrong… it is just time things started going right for all of us, don't you think?"

"I do," she said as the phone begun to ring.

Seeing as he had just been on it, she got up and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Mrs Kiriakis?" the voice on the end of the phone asked.

"Speaking."

"This is Daphne from maternity at Salem University Hospital," the nurse said gently and Adrienne felt her heart hit her stomach.

"Oh… Is this about the tests I had done yesterday?"

"I afraid that it is…"

Jack had apparently spoken far too soon.

X x x

Justin had had a hell of a day and it was all of his own making.

He had turned up to the wrong room for his first meeting and then it had just gone downhill…

And so by the time he got back to the Kiriakis mansion, he was glad of it. All he wanted to do was head up the stairs, change, grab some dinner and then go to bed so that the day could be behind him.

"Master Justin," said Henderson as he opened the door.

"Henderson, I am done in by today. Can you please tell my uncle I will not be eating with him and Maggie tonight? I just want something in my room."

The last thing he felt able to put up with that evening with dinner with his uncle. He loved him… but he couldn't face him that evening.

"I can tell Mr Kiriakis that but before you go up sir, Mrs Kiriakis is in the lounge waiting for you."

"Do you know what Maggie wants with me?"

"It is not that Mrs Kiriakis, sir. It is your wife."

That was all it took for his mood to change completely. If Adrienne was there for him then he knew he had to be there willing to greet her with open arms because this could be the start of – well, he was not sure but he was not willing to risk throwing it away as he had had a bad day at work.

He all but ran to the lounge.

When he got there he saw she had sat down on the couch and she had her head in her hands. He remembered seeing her at the hospital the day before and now more than ever he was sure he had been right. She had not been there to be with Steve and Kayla. She had gone there because she had had to go there and he was going to find out what that reason was if it killed him.

"Adrienne," he said as he drew her attention.

Her eyes were red as she looked up him. This was the first time they had been together since the night when she had rightfully left him for his betrayal. She had been crying then as well. He did not want her crying any more. He wanted to see her happy.

"Justin, I am so sorry I know should have called –"

"What are you on about? You know you never have to call. Adrienne, I – I am so sorry –"

"Where is _she_?" His wife said as she sat up. She clearly did not want to be seen in pieces. She just could not help the tears which were flowing down her face just then.

"Gone – she is gone," he said as he smiled sadly at her.

It did not much matter, he thought to himself as the damage between the two of them was already done but at least – at least no more was going to done.

Adrienne nodded. She clearly thought that was good but she could not say it.

"Is there something wrong… When I saw you at the hospital."

She nodded.

And then there was silence.

"You are not sick are you?" he asked. Because he did not think he could take it if there was something which was wrong with her. He had treated her abominably of late and if he had been doing that when she – she needed him the most then… he did not know how he was going to forgive himself, let alone be forgiven by her.

"No," she said as she shook her head and then got up on her feet.

The only way she was going to be able to give him this news was if she was pacing, like her mind was.

"A few weeks ago when I was having dinner with the family, I passed out. My brothers took me to the hospital to get me checked out and – and it turns out that… that I wasn't sick but I did have a condition," she said as she looked in to his eyes.

There was no understand there so far and she did not blame him for that. She had been unable to believe she was pregnant at first so there was no reason why it should cross his mind.

"Turns out against all the odds, at forty seven years of age I am going to bring a new life in to the world. I am pregnant Justin."

He looked as if he had been run over by a bus. Whereas she had just stood up, he sat down.

"Pregnant?"

"It was a shock for me as well. I know what you're thinking - that it is likely not your child but I have looked at the dates and I think – I believe it is our … our baby."

"I wasn't thinking that," he said as he looked up at her with sincerity in his eyes. He had not thought that at all. "I just –"

"I know it is a surprise."

He nodded before he looked back at her with her red eyes. "Do you not want the child?" he asked.

Because he did not know how he felt but he knew that he did want it. He had always wanted any child of theirs and just because there were a few extra years on the two of them now, that had not changed.

"I wasn't sure at first but now I know that I do," she said. "Do you?"

He nodded.

"So why are you crying?"

"Because – because I had a couple of tests at the hospital yesterday… and today I got the results."

"Are – what's wrong? Is something wrong with the baby?"

"No. Not wrong… but they have… they have Downs Syndrome. I just thought you should know." She explained as she stood up straight before him.

She was not going to take any pity for either of them as she was sure there little one did not need it. It might be a little different to other babies but there was nothing wrong with it.

She was going to raise and love her child just as she had raised and loved all the boys.

He nodded.

"I know this is all a lot to take in. God knows I struggled enough having the news in two parts and now I have put it all on you at once. But… but I could not keep it from you anymore."

Once more, he nodded. She hoped that meant he was glad she hadn't hid it from him anymore but she couldn't swear to it.

Suddenly, when he knew the news she felt her eyes dry up. She hadn't been crying because of the test results. She had been crying because he was not there in that room to hear the news with her… maybe, she thought to herself.

She just couldn't verbalise why she had been crying.

But all of a sudden she wasn't any more. And she was very ready to face whatever the future brought.

Whether the same could be said of Justin, she just wasn't sure.

X x x

Paige was walking through the Horton Town Square when JJ saw her for the first time since they had been at the lake. He had a back pack with him and she wondered if he had been studying somewhere. He appeared to be quite lost in his own thoughts till he saw her…

Lips healed rather quickly but still there was a mark on hers.

It was a reminder of just how much he had got wrong lately. But it did not look as if she was mad with him – which she ought to be.

"Hi, how are you?" he asked softly as he approached her.

She gave a shrug. "Ok."

"I am glad – Paige… I am so sorry. I did not mean –"

"I know you didn't," she said just as softly as he had spoken. It was clear to her all of the rage and the hate he had had in him was – not there.

Not anymore.

"Hurting you is the last thing in the world I want to do."

She nodded. She knew that too.

"How is everything at home?"

There had to be – had to be - a happy ending from all of this. There had been too much pain and suffering for it to carry on.

He gave a thin lipped smile. "We are all ok. Working things out… my dad is coming for dinner tonight with mom and Abigail and me so…" he gave a shrug.

When it had been suggested his knee jerk reaction was to say it was a bad idea but when he thought about the way he had been and then the way his dad spoke to him when they had been down by the lake…

It was hard to say no.

"That's good, JJ," she nodded. "That's really good."

"Yeah." It was.

There was a silence between the two of them and suddenly Paige was aware that it was pulling on too long.

"Well, I had better get back and have dinner with my grandpa and grandma. Night." She said as she went on her way.

"Goodnight Paige."

X X X

"Downs Syndrome?"

"Yes," Adrienne said as she as on the couch between Steve and Jack.

Since she had left the mansion she had swung by the market to pick up some food and had got back to find both of her big brothers in the apartment. Suddenly there had been no time like the present to tell him the news.

"Well – well we can deal with that…" Steve said confidently. In fact he said it with more confidence than he felt for then.

They were going to have to do some research and work out what special requirements the baby would need but – but once they knew that then they were going to be ok he was sure of it. He squeezed his sister's hand.

"I love you for saying that."

Unfairly she could not help but compare the reaction which Justin had had to the once which her brothers were providing her with.

Justin was obviously freaking out. Yet how much of that was down to the child's condition and how much of that was done to the fact as he edged past fifty there was going to be a child at all she was not sure.

"Yeah – you know we can all help out, the two of us and Jen and Kayla and the kids so – so we are going to be ok," said Jack as he held her other hand.

Adrienne nodded. She knew that suddenly. If she had had her way this would not be the way things would be happening. But she knew some time after the cookie crumbled, all you do was deal with it. You had to deal with the hand which life had given to you.

Their mother had taught them that. Jo had had to be so strong for so long and she had had to make choices which she never would have off of her own back.

And she could be her mother's daughter. She could be strong the way that her mother had been. But there was one big difference between her and her mother.

She was not and she knew she was not going to be for a minute on her own in this. She had so many people who loved her on her side and offering support. The other big difference in her life was that there was no Duke just waiting in the wings to destroy everything which she loved.

And if that was the case then they really were going to be ok.

"Listen, you need to go and have dinner with Jen and the kids so why don't you get off?" said Adrienne as she looked at Jack.

"I am sure they can do without me for another night if you need me here."

"No – no, I don't. I have Steve and there is not a lot the two of you can do for me right now outside what you have already done."

They had said they were with her, there for her and for that night that was more than enough.

"Yeah, I am going to take this one across the hall for a while so she can spend a bit of time with her niece and nephew," Steve said as he gave his sister a kiss on top of her head. "You go and spend some time with your kids, Jackson. They need you."

X x x

"Do you think Adrienne is going to be ok?" asked Jen dished up dinner for four.

It felt odd but good to be dishing out four dinners instead of three.

When Jack had got there a little late she had begun to worry he was not going to come at all. It would not be the first time he had lost his courage before something like this.

But when he had got inside, he had poured two glasses of red wine and then told her the news about their new little niece or nephew. It made sense why he had been late. She was surprised he had come at all, as she knew how close he had been with his sister since he had been home.

But he had been as good as his word.

Jack pondered that for just a moment before he nodded.

"Yes, she is going to be ok. They both are."

None of the Johnson's had had an easy time but when he looked back he knew Adrienne had it among the hardest. Yes, some terrible things had happened to him and his brother but he sincerely believed that Jo had thought she was doing the right thing when she had given them up.

As a result of that, no matter what else had gone on, for the most part, they had been kept safe from Duke which had been there mother's objective. As a result he had not been able to hurt them.

Adrienne, on the other hand, had had to live with that man her entire childhood. Jack had no doubt that their mother had tried to shield her daughter but… but in the end it had not been enough.

And so his little sister had learnt what it was to be brave very early on.

She was so strong that he had no doubt that she was going to be able to deal with this too.

It would not be her toughest challenge to date.

The two of them looked at one another with a nod for it was clear once he had said that, the thoughts which were in his head had gone over to Jen's.

Adrienne was a strong and capable women and once Justin had got his head around all the news…

Well, then they would make a start.

Just as they were themselves doing.

"Hey!" said Abi as she came in to the kitchen. She looked chilled and relaxed and very ready for their family night.

"Hello, my darling," said Jack as she came over to him and let him put her arms about her.

The two of them exchanged greetings and it was only Jen who noticed JJ when he came to the door of the kitchen. He stood there, looking in on the three of them as if he was trying to decide whether he wanted to step through and join them.

After a moment, he came into the kitchen. Jen's heart swelled.

"Hi honey, how was your day?"

Abigail and Jack's eyes were on him as soon as she asked the question. He sat down at the table almost shyly.

"Good. Dinner almost ready?" he asked trying to steer away from the amount of attention he was getting just then.

"Yeah… yeah, it is," she confirmed as she begun taking the plates over to the table with Jack's help.

Realising he was not going to achieve his goal until he acknowledge the elephant in the room, JJ turned to Jack.

"How you doing?"

Jack grinned. "Better. Much better now."

Then, together, Jack, Jennifer, Abigail and JJ sat down for their first family meal for the first time in Jen did not know how long. They talked about the weather and sport and the hospital and the wider family. The night was eventful for the very reason it passed without incident.

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	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

The day before Kayla's surgery begun with a visit from her mother and Steve knew it was just the first of many times that Kayla was going to have to paint a smile on for others that day…

Ever since the kids had found out she was going to be undergoing surgery she had been the one making sure they were ok. It was just the mama bear in her. Even though Stephanie was a grown women, she had to make sure she and Joey were alright before Kayla could think about herself and how she was coping.

That was what she had to do for her own mother as well.

Kayla had embraced Caroline tightly on her arrival and then with the help of Bo (who had come with his mother), Steve and the kids, mother and daughter communicated.

Bo sat with his mother and Stephanie on one couch while Joey sat by the side of his mother on the other, leaning into her as she gave him a hug. It recalled to Steve's mind the night when Kayla had come home from the hospital. Except Joey had been so relaxed and calm then and it was quite clear their son was not feeling either of those things just then.

He was feeling as stressed as his father was.

While Kayla was able to sit there and just be with the others, Steve rushed about making sure everyone had enough tea and cookies and that Kayla had everything she was going to need for her stay in hospital, even though she was going to be there for a relatively short space of time. The fact she had been perfectly relaxed when she had been packing her hospital bag made no difference to him.

Steph slipped away to try and calm him a couple of times but Kayla knew it was not going to work. She knew just to let him pace it out…

When her love was doing things for the family he was ok. When he had nothing to do – that was when things got worse. Steve hated nothing so much as he hated being motionless or powerless.

"You know she is going to be fine," said Bo, as he saw his niece was not having a lot of luck with her father. She had gone to try and convince him to sit with them for a while and returned alone. Bo had then followed Steve out to the kitchen to see he was unloading the dish washer.

In some ways it still seemed bizarre to him that their lives were now in part filled with such mundane ordinary tasks.

Just a couple of months before they had been camped out in some god for sake part of Europe trying to figure out how they were going to bring down the DiMera's once and for all.

Now they were doing every done stuff… and it was so much better.

"I know," Steve said with half a smile which warned Bo not to push it any more. "I know."

He didn't need to hear what his best friend was trying to tell him.

Bo sighed and went back to his sister. The sooner this operation was done… the better.

X x x

All the Johnson's went to the hospital the night before Kayla's surgery to drop her off. Kayla would have been fine with having said goodbye to the kids at home but they had wanted to be with her as long as they could.

But the time soon came when they had to go… and she had to stay.

"Love you," they both signed before heading out.

Stephanie and Joey both threw one more smile back at their mother before they left the hospital room, having kissed her goodbye and wished her luck.

Knowing Steve was having to go soon made nothing easier. Kayla remembered feeling this way the time before too. When Steve had broken the news Doctor Mike Horton had said he had to go she had tried to accept it with as good a grace as she was able to muster but she had never needed to spend the night with Steve's arms around her so much as she had that night.

Till this night…

But this time he really did have to go home as she knew they had two anxious babies who were going to need their papa.

She did not come in to it.

'I love you,' he signed.

Kayla nodded. She knew that. There had been times in their long history when she had not been sure of that fact but now she was and she was always going to be.

'I love you too,' she said as she gave him a small smile.

The next day was the start of everything. Of the two of them getting back to a place where they could talk.

More than anything she could not wait to his voice. The only voices she wanted to hear more than his were their babies.

As he leaned forward to take her in his arms, she went into them willingly. All she wanted to do was stay there, burying her face in his neck for a moment she shut her eyes.

Normally she loved being at the hospital when she was working. For all the sadness it entailed she felt good when she was there as it meant she could help people, she could make them better.

But it was a very different case when she was the patient.

She leaned into Steve's touch as he ran a hand through her hair and then sat up straight when he gently pulled away.

Kayla reminded herself he had to get the kids home.

'Tomorrow is going to be here real soon baby. Then you can come home and be with the three of us again.' He promised as he kissed her hand.

If he had his way then this was the last time they were ever going to be apart.

It was their time to be together now.

She nodded with more confidence than she felt and kissed him back when he leant back down for just one more. She knew he did not want to go anymore than she wanted him to.

Then he gathered himself, stood up straight and followed their children feeling decidedly uneasy about everything.

He was glad she did not seem to be as freaked out by the thought of the operation as she had been before. That had been no good for her and he had been afraid that she was just not going to have it. Whilst he did not care for himself, for he would love her whether she could talk to him or not, he had not wanted that to be her life.

She had told him how isolated the whole thing had made her feel and – and it just had not been good for her.

She was so social, she loved to be with and about people and if she had been cut off for ever he did not like to think what that would have done to her initially. He knew she would have adjusted and deal with what was going on in the end because that was what she did… but it had scared him for her. It hadn't happened though….

Yet this silence on any nerves for the op she had this time did not feel right to him. He wondered if should not surprise by it at all though…

Just as he got to the door, he turned back to look at the beautiful women lying in the hospital bed as their kids had done.

But instead of just smiling, he pulled his hand up to his chest and ball his hands into fists, looking at her meaningfully. She responded likewise.

Courage was their first word after all. So her stoic bravery really should _not_ surprise him at all, he knew.

As he left the room he took in a deep breathe.

He knew he had to show some of that bravery. He walked over to the waiting area, put one arm around each of his waiting kids and then begun to walk them back to the car…

Yet every instinct in him told him he was going the wrong way. That he should be staying with her.

X x x

"Are you ok?" asked Shane as he came into the living room to see Kim and Bo sitting quietly with their mother.

He set the tea on the table.

"I am going to be a lot better in the morning," Caroline admitted.

No matter how much time passed her babies were always her babies.

Leaving Kayla when she had seen her that morning had not been easy at all.

"Once tomorrow is over, Ma," Bo sighed. "Everything is going to be better."

They knew that it was going to take a little time for Kayla to get back on her feet entirely.

But this was an important step.

"Yeah, and you know how tough our Kayla is. She is going to come through this stronger than ever before," said Kim with a smile.

Caroline nodded. She hoped that was the truth.

"I am so lucky I have all of you her with me," She said with a soft smile.

Her kids were her world. She just wished she could be with the one who needed her the most.

The evening carried on quietly between them, with Paige and Theresa popping in for visits. It was clear that holding baby Tate did his great grandmother the world of good.

"You know she could do this a lot more often if you were to move in here with us sweetheart," Shane said to his daughter as they watched Caroline with the baby.

Theresa gave her father a look which told him what she thought of that idea but he put his hands up.

"No pressure, it is just something to think about."

X x x

The phone call came from Marcus in the middle of the night.

Steve did not have to wake up to answer it. He had known he was not going to get any sleep that night. He could not sleep when he was not with his sweetness…

"Homey, what's up?"

"Has Kayla turned up at home?"

Steve stood up and it seemed to him he was put his shoes on before he so much as replied.

"No, she is not here, the kids and I dropped her to the hospital this evening."

"Well a nurse just went in to take her obs and she was not in her room-"

"I am on my way! "

Leaving a note for Stephanie, Steve left the apartment as soon as he could and as fast as he had got up he was at the hospital.

Marcus met him at the door and said they had checked her room again and the toilets and now they were scanning the hospital.

"Ok – let's think, she is not in her room, not on this floor, her office –" he said and it was as he said the last two words that he saw his friends face change.

"Homey what do you mean you have not checked in her office?" said Steve with a sigh as he looked at his hot shot doctor friend. He loved him like a brother but he could be a little… well, thick when the occasion rose.

Marcus looked sorry but Steve was already on his way to where he knew his ex-wife was going to be.

Looking for some normalcy.

Nevertheless, he was gratified to see she had gone where he thought she was going to be. He could see the soft glow of a light from within her office and walked in slowly as to not startle her. Steve was able to see for just a moment what she must looked like on a normal work day.

She was sitting at her desk and it looked very much as if she was trying to get as bit of paper work done.

But she should not be getting paper work down. She should be getting a bit of a rest for the morning.

He crossed to her desk, knowing she was aware of him being there. However, for one reason or another she was choosing not to look at him. Maybe because she knew he was going to want to take her back to her room.

Steve knelt down by her side and ran a hand through her hair. She shivered a little but still didn't look at him for a moment until she felt she was too able to…

And then even when she did, it took no time at all for her eyes to fill with the tears she had been trying so very hard not to cry all day.

His heart shattered for her. She had been so strong for so long and now she couldn't be.

Which he knew was where he came in.

He put his arms about her, wishing desperately for her hearing to come back of its own accord. If only it would then he would be able to offer all the words of comfort which were in his head right then.

But she could not hear them.

Feeling Kayla lean into him, Steve shifted, so that they could hold on to each other more easily, making sure not to let her go as he did so. He just didn't want to let go…

Before they had got the date for the operation it had been as if they had been getting back to some sort of normal. Yet they had not been. They had been in a little bubble where nothing could touch them. Where they could be with their kids and where they were able to fall back in love… but they had a long way to go yet.

He pulled back as he felt her also do so.

"What if it does not work this time, what if we picked the wrong course of surgery and what if I never hear your voice again? And what if I never can just talk to our children again?"

It was all the same thoughts, the same fears she had before. They was not going on to stop her having the operation but she was glad she had got them out in the open, even whilst knowing he did not have the answers… but it helped to share her worries.

She had to express them.

"Then nothing is going to change… and we will love you, sweetness, as much as we always have."

She was the centre of the world for their family. The glue which held it together.

And no matter what, she always was going to be… he had no idea if that was going to be enough but it was all he had to give her right then, he thought as he kissed her cheeks.

Steve stayed right there with Kayla in his arms. He had to be there for her for just as long as she needed him. And he would be.

It was only when she was ready to go back to her room that they did so and even then he did not leave her. He stayed right by her side till he was sure she was asleep.

"Sweet dreams, sweetness…" he murmured as he placed a kiss on her forehead and quietly left the room. It was even harder to do second time around.

It was gone two by the time he left the hospital.

If it was the old days then he knew he would go straight to the pier and then he would play the blues a while to calm himself.

But he was a papa – and he knew even though neither of them were tiny, he had to get back to his little ones.

He might not be half the parent their mother was but they had him… and they needed him.

He got back to the flat, crawled into bed and sent a pray to the Big Dude that everything would come good the next day.

"It just has too…" Steve murmured to the empty space by his side.

 _It had too._ For her sake…

 _Please review!_


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

"You know, you can go home to the kids while the operation is going on. I will call you as soon as she gets out of the OR," offered Jennifer Horton as she walked into the visitor's room to find her brother in law sitting there, looking like a cat on a hot tin roof.

And there were no surprises there at all.

"I am ok here," Steve told Jennifer. She had known she was going to get that response but she had also known Kayla was going to want her to at least try.

She wondered over to the coffee pot and poured two cups, just as she had done _that_ night. It seemed so long ago that she had been here with Adrienne after the crush.

"Here. It is not all that good, but it's hot," she insisted as she sat down at Steve's side.

He nodded gratefully. She knew he was a man of few words and even fewer when he was worried. Still she did not like to think of him going through this alone.

When he picked up on the fact that she was not going to be leaving any time soon he turned and looked at her.

"So when are you going to be asking that brother of mine to move back in with you?"

She could have laughed. It was truly all or nothing with him.

"Soon, hopefully. He and JJ just need a little more time."

"I hear they are getting on better."

Jen nodded. "Better than they were any way. I think JJ is beginning to see the man Jack really is these days and not who he was before he was born."

"That's good."

"It is... I am sorry, I know this is the last thing you want to talk about. Especially now. It can't be easy for you."

"No, it is not easy but I am the one who brought it up. I wondered what was coming between the two of them." he said, with no insinuation needed.

She had confirmed it.

"But they are getting passed it now." In one way or another, they had all had to find a way past the end of Kayla and Jack's marriage and the brutality which it had invested their family.

Steve hoped with all his heart that this was the last time someone was going to have too.

"That's good."

She nodded. It was. "I do not know if Adrienne is going to see it that was way thought when he does move home."

Then Steve nodded. "That's right, the two of them have got close lately. All three of us have."

"Well, she needs you both with the baby coming. Are you looking forward to being an uncle again?"

Steve smiled genuinely for the first time since Kayla had been taken down for surgery. The look on Jen's face told her all that she needed to know.

"Yes. Yes I am." The truth was he felt as if he was becoming an uncle for the very first time. He had not been around when any of the others had been babies.

He had missed Adrienne's boys being babies, even though he had been in town when Alex had been young… they had not had a lot to do with one another. He could love him now but the fact that the nasty red witch Angelica had given birth to him had coloured Steve's opinion of the boy at the start.

But this time he was going to be there. "Are you?"

"Of course. It is going to be lovely to have a baby in the family again," she said as she drunk her coffee. "Arianna Grace is growing too fast."

"She seems as if she is a cute kid."

"Yes, she is. And Lucas is just crazy about her," she smiled.

When all this was done, she promised herself she was going to sort something out with the two of them, herself and her brother. It struck her that she had been very focused on the Johnson side of the family of late for very obvious reasons, but she had to give a little attention to her own side of the family from time to time too.

They feel in to a silence again and Jen did not break it. But nor did she leave Steve. She would wait with him for as long as it took.

In fact it only took another half an hour for Marcus to come and find them fresh out of Kayla's surgery, but for Steve it had felt a lot longer. The minutes had dragged by, painfully slowly.

"How did it go, homey?"

"It went well. Kayla is going to be ok… her hearing might take a little while to come back, but the ear drum is repaired."

For the first time since he had got up that morning Steve felt as if he was able to breathe. That was the news he had been waiting for.

"Thank you," he said as he embraced his brother.

"Hey, you're welcome," Marcus replied as he felt Steve's relief. He never had to thank him for doing his job.

It had been a long and pressured wait but it was over.

"Can I go and be with her?" Steve asked.

Marcus nodded. There had been no way he was going to give Steve the news before he could go and sit with her. When his best friend wanted to be with the women he loved there was no keeping them apart.

"Let me take you down to recovery."

Steve did just that.

In spite of the fact that he had been told she was going to be ok, Steve found himself oddly nervous before he went in to see Kayla. Still, nothing would have kept him away.

When Steve got into the room he saw that Kayla was still pretty out of it and if he remembered rightly, she was going to be for most of the day. She was laying on the bed, her head resting back on the pillow in a manner he wasn't sure was quite comfortable. She would get a crook in her neck if she wasn't careful, but he thought it a sign of her exhaustion.

The memory of the last time she had had come round at the end of the operation popped into his mind… he smiled at the memory… he had been so glad to just get to hold her. But then his sweetness had got even sweeter…

 _Ask me again…_

Her eyes fluttered opened and shut as he took her hand.

"Hey baby," he murmured as he brushed her hair from her forehead. "I am here. I am right here with you, sweetness."

Weakly, she squeezed his hand with the little energy she had left before she shut her eyes again.

Neither of them let go for a long time.

Steve noted how pale she was and how small she looked in the bed… he did not like that. But just like everything else this was going to pass, he promised himself. And then things were going to get even better for them. Better than ever before.

X x x

"I am so happy school is broken up at last," said Ciara as she and Hope made their way down to the Brady pub.

At long last summer had arrived for the young girl, which meant no school, late nights and plenty of fun in the sun.

As soon as they knew that Kayla was going to be ok then they were all going to be able to relax.

Until then, they were going to spend some time with Bo. Hope had an alternative motive which was indeed to do with her sister in law. Though she knew the family were going to get in contact with her as soon as they knew she was going to be ok, she wanted to know as soon as she could. No doubt the news would get to the pub sharpish when it came.

Bo was thrilled they were there – she could tell as soon as they walked through the door.

He went straight to their daughter and embraced her. No doubt the stress of their mother's worry about her own daughter made him want Ciara close.

"How are you little one?"

"Is there any news yet?" She said as she looked up to him with wide eyes.

"Not yet, but I am sure it is all going to be ok." he said as he wrapped his arms about her.

Hope felt her heart go out to Bo properly for the first time since he had been home.

No matter what else had gone on she knew how much he loved his family. She knew how much being a Brady meant to him – perhaps more than it did to any of Caroline's other children, just by virtue of the fact he was not Shawn's natural son.

She had had to see him struggle to come to terms with the fact he was Victor's…

So she was in no doubt that what was happening to Kayla was upsetting him.

"Why don't I get you a special 'school is out' smoothie?" he suggested as he released his daughter.

"Can mom have one too?"

"Of course she can!"

The three of them sat down together and were soon joined by Caroline.

Ciara's chatter about what she wanted to do with the summer now it was here kept the adults focused.

"Can we go on vacation?"

Hope smiled. "We probably could squeeze in a week away. Where do you want to go, baby?"

"New York!"

"Wow, you did not even have to think about that," her mother smiled.

"Of course not. That is where all the big stars live."

"And that's what you are going to be is it, little one?" Bo grinned. She was already a big star in his eyes.

"It sure is. You should have seen me in this year's Christmas play."

"She was in Cinderella," Caroline informed her son. "One of the not so ugly step sisters."

"I got rave reviews!"

"I am sure you did!" Bo could only imagine. He wished he had been there to see that.

"Will you come see me in the Christmas play this year?" his daughter asked as if she was reading his mind.

"I promise you, little one – wild horses are not going to keep me from being there."

She beamed as he said that and Hope could not help but feel her own heart swell a little.

She was so glad that their daughter had her father back. It was a thought which were slightly bittersweet though. For a reason she could not allow herself to put into words.

Her eyes caught Bo's for just a moment before she broke the contact, unable to let it go on.

That was when his phone rang.

"Brady… oh hi, Marcus." Every one about that table sat up. "How's she doing?... oh that's great…. That is the best news. Can we come see her? …. Ok, we'll hold off for a while then…. no don't worry, I'll ring Kim. Thank you, thank you so much! … Ok man, see you soon. Bye."

Bo looked as if he was ten years young when he got off the phone.

"She is good, the operation went well… Ma, Kayla is going to be fine,"

Caroline sighed with relief as she covered her hands with her face. As soon as her eyes became a little shiny though, her son was out of his chair and had soon embraced her.

"Oh, I am so glad. I am so glad," Caroline murmured as she held her son. It seemed as if everything was going to be ok in the end. And that was not a feeling she had had in a while.

After the two of them let go of one another, Bo turned to Hope. She looked as relieved as he felt and they laughed gently before they did what felt right.

Hope wrapped her arms about him. She knew she should not in front of their daughter really – she did not want Ciara to get the wrong idea about them and their future but Kayla was going to be ok and he was just so – there.

There with her. Which was all she had ever really wanted him to be.

The hug lasted for longer than a friendly one should have and it was not till she got home that Hope realised she had barely thought of Aiden at all that day.

X x x

"How is she doing?" asked Joey very softly as he approached his mothers bed. He and Stephanie had got a call from their uncle Marcus to say their mother was out of surgery and she was soon going to be out of recovery, going back on a normal ward.

That was when they had left the house.

Their dad had gone in earlier so that he could be in recovery when his mother came to. He hadn't wanted her to be alone.

Stephanie sighed softly as her eyes found her mother.

She looked as if she was exhausted and she did not blame her. It had no doubt all been exhausting for her…. It had been for them, and they were not the ones who had undergone an operation.

It did not escape her that Kayla and Steve were holding hands. In fact she was holding on to his like a life line. And that made her strangely happy. It did seem as if he was making good on all of his promises to be there for them.

Her papa was looking at her mother with a look of such adoration in his eyes.

"The operation went well," Steve said reassuringly not quite taking his eyes off the patient.

"Good," said Joey as the two sibling's moved to their mother's side.

He picked up her free hand in his own tenderly.

Kayla opened her eyes and smiled softly at the three faces around her. They were all there and that was just where they were going to stay.

They were her family.

She loved them more than anyone.

And soon enough, she was going to be able to tell them that.

X x x

"I heard Kayla's surgery was a success," said Justin as he walked in to the apartment.

Adrienne shut the door behind him.

"Yes it was," she said with no small degree of relief. For Kayla and for her brother who she knew would have been beside himself if there had been any other outcome.

"I am glad."

You didn't know someone for as long as they had all known one another without caring.

"We all are," she said with a nod as she looked at him. "But I do not think you came here to talk to me about Kayla."

"No – no, I did not." he said as he sat down. "Adrienne, I know you must hate me right now."

"No. I don't," she shook her head. "I do not think hating is a good use of my time or my strength right now."

He could only nod in agreement. She was right there. She had bigger fish to fry. Bigger battles to win.

"I – I have no right to your forgiveness, all the same."

She nodded. That was true she guessed.

"But – but I have thought about nothing else but this baby…. and I want to – I want to be its dad. I want to be a daddy again."

Adrienne smiled gently. That was nice to hear.

"Well – if it is your baby –"

"Adrienne, you're not listening to me. It doesn't matter whether this child has my DNA or not. I want to be its father – the same way you are the twins and Alex's mother."

She had not carried those boys but it made no difference to their family unit. She was the mother of all his sons and he wanted to be the father of this baby…

Adrienne looked up and he was shocked to see there were tears in her eyes.

"Oh Adrienne –"

"No… I am happy you feel that way."

She knew she was not going to be in this on her own. Her family had made that clear but hearing him say those things too…

It was different.

She crossed the room to her bag.

"I had a sonogram yesterday."

"You did?" he asked. "Well, I wished you – I wish I could have been there with you." he was not going to attach any blame to her right then.

That was not the way to achieve his goal and he knew he had to tread carefully.

"Next time…"" she promised as she rummage through her bag. "Here… here is the picture."

She said as she passed the little white envelope over to him.

He flipped it open and was amazed by what he saw.

He remembered when Gabi had been pregnant with their grandchild he had seen a picture of Arianna. He had been surprised then by how clear it had seemed to be but if anything this was even more so. He could see the baby. He could see their little fingers and toes developing, their little nose.

"Perfect."

Adrienne nodded. She hesitated for just a moment.

"She is."

Justin nodded as he looked at the scan and then what she had said begun to sink in.

"She? It's a girl?"

"They confirmed it yesterday. Can you believe it? After all this time… we're finally getting a girl."

' _We'_ … it felt so natural…

It had been a long road for the two of them to become parents. And then it had been a long road for them to raise their four boys.

But _this_ … this was a gift.

He laughed with happiness before the urge to hold her became too strong.

"Our girl," he laughed as he threw his arms about her. For a moment he held off on squeezing too tight till he felt her lean in to his arms. He had been so afraid that they were never going to get to this point again. That he was never ever going to be able to hold her in his arms again. But not only did he get to hold her but he got to hold their little girl at the same time.

And that was a kind of wonderful that Justin Kiriakis knew he could not put into words.

"I know I have hurt you in the past... But from now on I am going to do everything that I can to show you just how much I love you. And the little one. And Alex and the twins and Sonny."

No one mattered to him the way that the six of them mattered to him. And if he was finally able to prove that? Then all the better.

 _Please review!_


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

Autumn was slow to arrive in Salem that year and it was as if summer was reluctant to leave. But September came all the same.

JJ was off to Salem U and Joey and Ciara were both moving up in two the next grade. Both of them were sorry to see the return of the classroom. Especially Ciara who had had a wonderful time getting to know her father once more, as well as a week's trip to NYC with her mother.

As for Joey's dad, Steve was once more back on the police force. Roman had made both him and Bo work for it and had made it clear that if they went wondering off this time, then there was going to be no getting back on the force again. They were on their last chances. Steve pointed out that last time he had left it had hardly been through his own choice, but apparently involuntary death was not a good enough reason.

Both men had been sworn in the end and Caroline had thrown a Brady BBQ to celebrate. It had been such a long time since they had all been together…

They had had a great summer… but it was over.

Tentatively, Kayla had gone back to work as the leaves begun to fall too. It was not full time yet and she was not yet practising medicine again.

Her recovery had been slow. Physically she was well, but she had thought her hearing and her speech would have returned quickly like the last time. And she knew she should not keep comparing it all to last time but she could not help it.

It had taken her a week to hear and speak again. But this time around, here she was a month after the operation and she could do neither.

Marcus said there was nothing for them to worry about. These things did take time and they were just going to let it do its thing.

It was a frustrating process but her ear drum looked good. Not only Marcus said so but Dan Jonas agreed.

Thus Kayla was trying to focus on the good in her life…

And it did seem as if everything was getting on track. Stephanie had a good job. She was, of course, making noises about moving out but there had been no action which was just the way her parents liked it.

The four of them were together… that was what mattered.

In fact, in many ways, life could not be better. Until she remembered that there were also many ways in which it could be.

She had to be grateful for what she had. But she was not a liar. And she knew she wanted more.

X x x

Adrienne sighed as she sat in the Donovan's living room. She and Kim had been friends for years but this – this was more than a visit to a friend.

She just wasn't here to see Kim.

She wanted to talk to her properly, like the two of them would have in the old days. She just hadn't made it very clear perhaps.

"The two of you have a beautiful home," she sighed as Kim came back with the coffee.

"It is not too bad, is it? You know when Shane and I moved in here it was in such a rush. We were so worried about Theresa and about Kayla…" she sighed. "But things have settled down and now we do have a lovely home. And a life back in Salem."

"It seems as if life is working out for all of us now."

"Well that is good to hear. But you do have a lot to look forward too. Can I feel?" she asked as she eyed Adrienne's bump.

It had become more and more pronounced over the last few weeks. The day before she had walked in to Club TBD and Sonny's eyes had all but popped out his head at the sight of her.

That was when she had known she was showing – really, really showing.

She had to admit she had got used to being the centre of attention.

Everyone wanted to feel her bump. It had got to the stage with her brothers where they did not even ask.

They rushed into the room to check on her and the minute she had confirmed she was ok, they had their hands on her stomach asking how their little niece was. Both had been delighted to hear she was having a girl.

They had both doted on their girls and now they were going to do the same for hers.

"I think she is sleeping at the moment, but she was having a party on the way over," Adrienne explained.

"Well then enjoy the rest. I remember when I was having Andrew and Jea – Theresa, the moments of peace was treasured."

Adrienne nodded. She did treasure the moments when the little one was not playing football…

There was a silence between them.

"Is everything ok, Adrienne?"

She nodded. "Of course. Everyone has been wonderful. Everyone can't wait for it to come and Lucas and Justin have both said they are willing to stand by me…"

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "Justin has…" and that was when she had tears in her eyes.

She put her head in her hands.

"Oh Adrienne…" her friend said as she came close, wrapping an arm about her.

"He has been so wonderful."

And he had. That summer he had all but doted on her. He had gone with her to get a stroller and a crib and he had asked her to move back in with him.

"I so want to trust him," she admitted.

Everything in her was telling her to trust him and to love him the way that she had done when they were young. But there was a big problem with that. They were not young any more. And so much water had passed under the bridge.

"But –"

"But I do not know if we can ever get back to the place where we –"

Yet she did not have to say it.

That was what she wanted for the two of them.

Desperately. So that they were able to get back on a good footing, if they could, before their little girl came into the world. If it even was _theirs…_

She was going to need all the love and the support which they could give her…

And Adrienne was sure they were going to be a lot stronger if they were together.

"You know the one thing - only thing that can – that can give you that faith and trust in Justin back is time."

That was not what she had wanted to hear. "But the two of us are on kind of a time limit here."

She did not want to get this wrong. That was the last thing in the world that she wanted.

She did not want to make the mistake of pushing him away when they were good together. When they were strong together and they could give their child a great life together.

But she also did not want to open herself up to any more pain. She did not want to risk letting him in, getting settled and letting the baby get used to him…

Then get it wrong that way.

Either way she knew she was not going to be able to spend too much time of this… when the baby did arrive her needs and her worries were going to have to go on the back burner… it would have to be all about the little one.

"But it is not going to be long until this baby is here."

The one thing she did not have was time. The baby was not going to wait for her to be sure about whether she wanted to raise her with Justin. She was going to come when she was ready. Not before and not after.

Adrienne looked at Kim. She knew she was being somewhat immature here but she knew deep down she had come in the hope her old friend was going to give her an answer and say 'yes, Justin is the right choice and he loves you. Give him another chance and it is all going to work out fine' or 'no, he is an asshole for all he has done to you over the past few years. Move on and forget him.'

But she knew she was not going to get that.

"Honey, if you want to make up your mind before the baby comes there is not a whole lot you can do but bite the bullet and hope for the best."

Kim knew that wasn't the answer she had been looking for. If she was Adrienne then she would want something a lot more solid to go on. But she also knew how hard it was to try and walk away from the man who had been the love of her life for years.

It was near on impossible.

"He says he loves us and that he wants to be with us."

"And do you believe him?"

That was what it came down to. If she could find the faith to believe him or not.

She wasn't sure…

"I want too." And that she thought could possibly be a start. Maybe.

X x x

"Do you think it would be trying too hard if I booked a couple of tickets to the football game at Thanksgiving?"

Jack stood in the Horton kitchen.

The last month had seen the continued improvement of the relationship between himself and his son but there was still a lot of work he knew he had to do.

It was going to take time – there was no fast track it seemed to the love of your beloved child being returned. But if it took hard work then that was what he was putting in to it.

That said the more time dragged on the more Jack felt as if he had to step up his game a bit.

And so he had sat down the other night and tried his best to think about what dads were meant to do with their sons.

It had been hard as it was not as if he had had any shining examples of fatherhood in his own life.

The only way he had had any interaction with Duke was when he came back to haunt him and the two of them spending proper quality bonding time had never been all that important to Harper. Yes, he had in his own way been a loving father but it was only up to a point and any affection which he had had for him died a long time ago now.

So Jack had had to go to the back page of the clichéd dad texts book. And there he had found the idea of a sports game.

He wasn't that much of a sports fan but he had heard Joey and his son talking about scores of some thing or other over the summer when the family had gathered at BBQs. It still blew Jacks mind that they had spent that summer doing such ordinary, wonderfully plain things… there had been no pressure and it had been easy and he knew it was just what they had all needed at the end of the day.

Jen looked at him with a smile on her face.

"Well, I do imagine that would be quite painful for you, but yes, I think knowing JJ, he is not going to turn down tickets to a game if you offer them to him."

"I just – I do not want him to think I believe taking him to a few sport games and then for pizza is going to solve everything. I know it won't."

"Do you know what, the only thing you are in danger of getting him to think right now is that you are over thinking this," Jen said as she came towards him and took his hands.

The truth was she did not think she had ever seen Jack be as dear as he had been in the past few months. He was gentler than he had been before – just as kooky and silly when they were alone but he was so tender.

Yet the one thing which she did not like to see was that it was as if he had lost so much of his self-confidence.

And it was as if until he had the belief of every member of their family once more, then he was not going to be able to believe in himself. That made her heart go out to him. She remembered the cock sure arrogant young man she had fallen in love with and compared him to the man who stood before her right then.

It would not in any way be right to say he was a shadow of his former self as he had grown so much from the early nineties. She had loved him through the transition. He was altered though, become so much more than who he had been.

The fact remained she did not think she had ever loved him as much as she did then.

Because the one thing that had not changed was how driven he was, how earnest he was in his desire to be a good father to their kids.

And nothing had ever made her fall for him more than that.

"You _are_ over thinking this. JJ loves you. I think he is even admitting that to himself these days." She murmured. "Just be here. And be here for him, that is all he has ever wanted from you."

That was all that any of them had ever wanted. For him to be present in their lives.

She had heard it said once that ninety percent of being a dad was just showing up. She was beginning to think that was summed it up.

"I just want to get it right." he admitted.

"And you will," she reassured him as she cupped his cheeks and kissed him softly. "You will, my love."

X x x

Stephanie Kay Johnson was always so glad to get home these days. It was not that she disliked her job… it was the fact her home life was now all she had ever wanted it to be since she was a little girl.

She had dreamt of a set up like the one she had then with her parents, baby brother… and now she was beginning to trust it.

Her papa was working with her Uncle Bo and Aunt Hope at the PD then when the day was done he came home to his wife and children. That had been her dream for them – for her whole family.

Now it was a wonderful reality.

She set down her bag in the hall way then walked in to the kitchen to find her mother and brother were there.

"Hey," she greeted Joey as she came into her mom's sight, signing her greeting as she said it.

'Hi!'

"How was the first day back at school?" she asked as she kissed her mother's cheek.

Joey shrugged. "Do you remember me saying at the end of the last term that we had to do a summer project?"

"No."

"Nor do I."

Stephanie could not help but laugh.

"Are you telling me you have been back a day and you are already behind? Bugs, that has got to be a record."

"I am doomed."

Stephanie chuckled again but she could not say she was surprised. The last term had been an intense one for her kid brother.

It was no great shock to her that when school had let out he had cut a little lose and forgotten all about it for the summer. He had probably needed the break more than any other kid in his school.

'You'll catch up,' his mother sighed.

Between the kids signing every word the said to each other and her lip reading, the family could communicate just as they would have before thought Stephanie.

"Is that a wish, a promise or a threat?" Joey responded.

'All of the above.'

She knew he had had a rough time but they were beginning to get on an even footing.

It was time to deal with the cards hey had.

Stephanie laughed again...

A small smile appeared on her mother's face and it was soon replaced by a bigger one.

X x x

Trying – actually trying – not to get excited when she knew there was something good on the way was something which had never ever really worked for Kayla.

Even then she was well able to remember the way she had been about Christmas as a kid… a nightmare!

And that was how she felt then.

It was happy. And excited. And as if she was fit to burst.

She had first become aware of it in her office that day.

It had been warm. And so she had put the fan on.

When she had first lost her hearing again she could recall looking at things and trying to imagine what they sounded like.

But over time as she had come to accept things for what they were she had stopped doing that. So when she had been sitting at her desk doing her work and heard the whirring of the fan she knew he was not imagine things. She had sat stunned by the beauty of the sound for a moment before taking a deep breathe.

She had not been sure what to do… to go and find Marcus or to go and find Steve at the PD, she just wasn't sure.

She had been waiting for the pain which she had experienced when her hearing had returned before… so for it to come back so gently was unexpected.

For just then she decided to do nothing.

It had been what she had been waiting for it to happen for so long. If – i _f_ it was a trick of her imagination then the last thing in the world which she wanted to do was get any ones hopes up but as the day went on, she had more and more faith that she was right.

She could hear the sound of her mug being put down on her desk after she had had a drink and she could hear the chattering and footsteps of people as they passed her office.

Slowly but surely she felt as if her silent movie was coming to an end.

Marcus, bless him had driven her home as was his routine now. She was sure it was more for Steve's sanity than for herself. But she had to admit, if anything he had been sweeter and more protective over her since the operation.

The more time which they had all spent together the harder it was for her think and recall the time when they had all been so far apart.

It was at home it all fell into place because when she was there and she could hear her children… how could she not believe it?

"Good evening family!"

Kayla felt a shiver go through her and she knew if she was not careful then she was going to burst into tears… and she did not want to do that. This moment should not be about tears.

She swallowed.

"Hey papa!"

"Hi pop."

Kayla had been careful not to look at the lips of the kids when they had greeted their father and yet she had understood every word.

It was so much clear than the fan had been that morning and to her ears the sounds of their voices was like the sweetest music.

"Did you guys have a good day?"

"I did but I think Joey is already wishing it was summer again."

"Aren't we all, little sweetness?"

Steve sighed as he put his arms about Kayla.

"How about you, baby? Did you have a good day?"

Once more Kayla felt a shiver go through her. Unable to stop she turned into her Steve.

She had missed him. She had missed the sound of his voice so, so much. She had not known how much she had missed it.

"Well, this is a welcome home I could get used to, sweetness."

Hearing the old endearment was almost more than she could bear…

And it only made her hold him tighter.

"Gross," Joey commented.

And that was when Kayla gave herself away to Steve. Because she was not even facing Joey and she laughed.

He was right they were his parents and they were in their fifties. It was so gross and she loved it so much.

Steve's hold on her shifted. He pulled back so he could look in her face holding on to her lovingly as he did so. His fingers brushed on her cheek as their eyes met, looking for an understanding. He found it.

For the first time in months he could use words to communicate with her and yet they didn't need them.

Because he knew as well as she did that there had been a huge change in her.

"Can you pass me that glass?" Joey asked, unaware of what was passing between his parents.

Almost as if to prove the point, Kayla turned and did what her son had asked.

"Thank you," he said as he took a bottle of coke of the kitchen counter.

"Oh my god!" Stephanie said as she clocked on to what was happening in a way her brother had not.

Till then.

Joey's eyes went wide.

"Can – I mean – did you?"

Kayla nodded, the biggest smile he had ever seen in his life on her face.

It was only then that the four of them seemed to break out the moment, joy pouring out of all of them. Steph cried out and Joey clapped and Steve held on to his sweetheart, unable to let go even if he had wanted too.

They had to get her checked out and they had to be sure it was all upwards from here… but right then they just had to be together.

And the fact they were, Steve believed was a miracle.

X x x

Stephanie and Joey were still with their mother by the time their Uncle Marcus came running into the apartment, having been called over by Steve.

"Oh Kayla… this is the best news!" he said as he kissed her on top of her head.

But then she knew that.

Ever since he had performed the operation he had been waiting for the day that he had got this call.

"Uncle Marcus, is mom – I mean –"

Joey was not even sure what he was trying to say then – he had just had to open his mouth and let the words fall out.

"It's ok buddy," his dad said as he crossed the room and put his arm about him.

Steve had no doubt there were simply too many thoughts and feelings going about in his sons mind for him to process them all right then.

"Little Homey, it is going to be ok but before I can say too much I need to examine your moms ear."

Joey nodded as Marcus took Kayla to one side… and when they returned, it was with good news.

X x x

It had been a long day. And by rights, they should be too tired to keep their eyes open let alone anything else but the moment they had got into the bed room, Steve was very aware that the last thing Kayla wanted to do now was sleep.

"You can really hear me?" he said as he stepped closer to her.

She nodded. Marcus had not given them a time line for when she was going to get her voice back but for now this was enough.

This was everything.

Kayla nodded, the smile staying on her face as she covered his hands with her smaller ones so as to keep them on her cheeks.

It was everything.

And as soon as she had nodded – now that the two of them were alone, he knew just what he wanted to tell her. The same thing that he always wanted to tell her, whether they were eating breakfast together or just walking down the street or spending the evening in with the kids.

It was always just the same three little words.

"I love you."

That was the bottom line. That was his bottom line and it had been ever since the day she had found him.

Before Kayla – well, Steve did not like to think of what he had been like before her. He had been a mess.

He had been so angry with the world and he had thought that if he kept his guard up and snapped at people then they were all going to leave him be in the end.

He had once said that people thought of him as a stray dog named Patch.

That was the truth. That was what he had been but from the moment she had found him – that had stopped being the case.

He had had a home and he had someone who cared for him. He had fought it for as long as he could but it had not taken long for him to fall in love and want to care her either.

Right then as he stood in the bed room which the two of them shared, with her in his arms, he knew why.

It was because she was truly the most wonderful women alive. And he would never leave her ever again.

"I love you, I love you, I love, you, I love…" he only broke off his string of processions because she had put his lips on his.

And as much as he wanted to tell her the way he felt for her, he was not so strong as to resist her when she had him right where she wanted him.

Yet he so wanted her to hear these words…

"I swear to you, sweetness, I am going to tell you I love you every day for the rest of our lives. Because there is not going to be a day I don't feel that way till the breath leaves my body," he said as her fingers begun to pull at the bottom of his shirt.

It did not take much more than that for him to get the hint.

Steve and Kayla didn't sleep until the sun began to rise.

 _Please review!_


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

It was not often that Theresa Donovan went over to her parents' house in spite of the fact she had been told by various members of the family, including her beloved grandmother, that her parents had moved home to be near her and the baby specifically. She did not know why she made it her life works to try and defy them, even though she was not a teen any more but somehow she did feel the need. It was all she could do to hope that her son was not going to feel that was about her when he was older.

But that day she had turned up there because she had a feeling she was going to have to do something which she did not like to do if she could possibly not… and that was to admit defeat.

It was something which was neither in the Brady or the Donovan hand books.

But it did seem as if she was coming to the end of her tether with Brady Black.

When she had moved into the Kiriakis mansion she had been sure that she was going to get him to see sense.

Now she had a horrible feeling that the one who was seeing sense was her.

"It's us," she called as she opened the door to the front hall and walked in, with her baby son gurgling in her arms.

Inspire of the fact that she had not moved in, her mother had given her a front door key and told her to use the place as if it were her home, as soon as they had got back to Salem.

She had thought Kim was over stepping at the time but right then she felt grateful.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you –"

"If you are on track to forgiving JJ, cant the two of us just talk?"

So Eve and Paige were here she thought with a smile.

Well, she had just come for dinner but it did seem as if she was going to get a show as well.

"So what is the hot topic on The View today ladies?" she asked as she headed in to the kitchen to find that her nieces eyes were brimming with tears and her sister looked equally ready to cry.

Her mother and her father were there. She could well imagine that when Eve and Paige had started laying into one another they had tried to referee before they had realised there was nothing which they could do, so now they stood quietly.

Paige huffed.

"I am going to go see some of the girls for coffee."

"Sweetheart please we have to sort this out!" her mother cried.

"There is nothing to sort out. I am never going to forgive you!"

And with that she left the room.

"Well I wonder where she gets her flare for the dramatics from," said Theresa as she put the baby bag she had been carrying down on the counter.

"You know you are not making things any easier?" Eve shot.

"I am not here to make things easier. I am here to raid the fridge."

Actually, she thought if she was being honest, then she would just tell her folks that she was there as she just wanted to be about people who did not treat her as if she was a leaper for five minutes.

That was all.

But she knew how they would react to her admitting something like that and she could not shake the feeling that it would not just be better if she were to keep the truth to herself just then.

"Well if you want to raid the fridge then I had better look after my grandson," said Shane as he came over from the chair in which he had been sitting.

Theresa could not help but laugh at the master spy who could save the world if he tried too, contrasted with the dad who wanted to melt away every time one of his kids started an argument.

She was not sure she could blame him. The Paige and Eve dispute was putting a downer on things.

"Come here, little feller," Shane said as he took Tate from his mother and put a kiss on his cheek.

Theresa could not help but smile as she watched the two of them together. Shane had not been the best father to her when she had been growing up because he had never been there. But now that she saw him with her son and her niece it seemed to her that he was born to be a grandfather.

He just relished the role.

"He is doing good. He slept through the night last night."

"Well that is because he is such a good boy."

"He must get that from Brady because I assure you, you never slept through the night." Her mother reminisced. "Can I get you a cup of coffee, honey?"

"You know what, that would be so good," she said as she sat down. "So what have the two of you got planned for today?"

"Well, I do not know what your father is doing but I am going to head over to the pub in a while. Your grandmother wants a little help planning Thanksgiving."

It was, after all, Was Caroline kept saying the first one in a while which they were going to be all together and that was something which was worth celebrating.

"And I do not have a lot on so if you do not mind then I would quite like to spend a little one on one time with my best boy here," said Shane kissing his grandson.

Theresa nodded. "That's fine. Then I can go with mom and see grandma."

No matter who else made her mad, Theresa could never feel that way about her grandmother.

Caroline was the one who was always there for her – who never doubted her.

A trip to see her and some of her cookies would do her the world of good, Theresa thought.

"I would like that," Kim smiled.

Theresa rolled her eyes.

Somehow, she did not think she and her mom were ever going to get past the stage where her mother was not going to make a thing of every little thing which they did together but just then…

It actually felt kind of nice.

X x x

"So you are not going to believe this."

"What?" Bo asked as Caroline came out the kitchen.

He was sitting with his sister and niece who had just arrived at the pub.

"What is it mama?" Kimberly asked.

"Your sister has already made plans for thanksgiving. They are all going to the Hortons!"

Kim could not help but feel for her mother.

The truth was she had had a horrible feeling that Steve and Kayla were going to end up spending the holiday with his family but she hadn't wanted to suggest it in case there was no need.

As soon as she was sure she was going to have all her babies in Salem for the holidays, Caroline had set her heart on a big Brady Thanksgiving. She had just assumed it would happened….

"Well, don't worry about it too much, Grandma I mean – we are going to be here and Uncle Bo and Uncle Roman. Besides, Christmas is just about the corner so I am sure you are going to be able to use this as a barging chip to make sure we are all together then."

Kim could not help but be impressed and worried by how fast Theresa had come up with that.

Still it did seem to settle her grandmother and she did have a point.

If they were not all together at thanks giving then they would have to be for Christmas.

"I know you have had a scary year with Kayla. But it is all coming good, mama. She can hear now and she is going to be about for many Thanksgivings to come."

Caroline nodded as she sat down. "I know she will. It - it is just no matter how big you girls and your brothers get you are always going to be my babies."

As long as she was able to remember them the way they had been when they were small they were going to be her babies.

"Let's focus on the good. And give thanks for that. Besides if we all came – god knows how we would all get in the room!"

Space was going to be an issue – that went without saying.

But then, it always had been in the Brady house. First it had been how to get four kids into two rooms and not have them arguing. Then the kids had started getting married and then Roman, Kimberly, Kayla and Bo had had babies of their own. And then they had more babies. And now many of those babies had babies…

Still, Shawn had once said they had a magic table. And that no one who sat own about it was going to want for warmth or food.

That was how Caroline was going to see through this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"Well – I guess we can get them to stop in on their way home from Jennifer and Jack's."

"You know Kayla and Steve, Mama, they are not going to have any problem doing that," said Kim with a smile.

"Yeah. They are going to want some Irish whiskey before bed." Theresa agreed.

And there was no place in Salem that did Irish whiskey better than the Brady pub.

X x x

"So how does that look?" Justin asked as he got up off of his knees and admired his handy work.

For a guy who spent most of his time in a courtroom or in an office, he did not think he had done too bad a job. This was his first bit of DIY in a while and – and it was passable he thought.

He looked up at Adrienne as she too admired his work.

"I think it is just the most adorable thing I have ever seen."

The crib before her was wooden and had been painted white. The ends were a little high than the sides and the mattress could go up a level or down, for when her baby got a little more active.

"It's gorgeous." It was going to be even more so when she put the babies bedding in.

When she had first been thinking about it, she had considered calling one of her brothers but even as she had thought about it, she had known they were the wrong men of the job.

Putting together the crib for each of the boys was something which Justin had loved doing. Something she had known he was going to relish doing again.

Of course between Alex and the twins they had barely had time to take the one their eldest boy had slept in down. And then they had to set up another so that Joey and Victor did not have to sleep top to tail from the day they were born.

Then they had taken both cribs down, moved to Texas and they had had to put one back up pretty sharpish for their Sonny.

So the cribs they had had then had been recycled and shared between all four boys.

And then they had ended up being lost or thrown away in all the moving about and the divorces which the boy's parents had been through.

When Adrienne had realised that she had felt so guilty – so guilty that she and Justin had allowed such a huge part of their family's history slip away. It was not as if they were ever going to be able to get the back.

But just then she did not think she was too sorry.

This baby was going to be new – and everything about the experience should be new.

A blank slate. A fresh start.

"You have done a truly beautiful job and I think this little peanut is going to love it," said Adrienne as she sat down on the couch just looking at the crib in which she was going to lay her daughter down in to go to sleep every night for the next year at least.

She still could not quite believe that this was where they were at stage in their lives but at the same time she did not think she would want to be anywhere else. She gas going into her fifties soon and she had had her job at the restaurant but if she did not have this baby coming then she did not like to think of what she was going to do next. She knew she would have felt anchorless. Rudderless.

Directionless.

But now she was going to be going in the best direction in the world and she was going to get to feel so much pride and love every day.

Justin sat by her side.

"Are you sure we are not setting up this nursery in the wrong place?"

"Yes."

The two of them had edged back together since summer really.

And the fact that he was holding her hand just then and she was not doing everything in her power to pull it away was a testament to that.

The more she thought about the more she knew she did not want to take this baby back to the Kiriakis mansion.

She knew that Victor and Maggie were going to love the child. Maggie already did though Victor was going to wait to lavish it with affection till he knew it was of Kiriakis linage no doubt.

But living there with them, at the mansion – the thought did not appeal.

She wanted space – a judgement free space and she did not think the mansion had ever been that as long as it had been ruled over by Victor.

Justin nodded as she looked at him.

The two of them had known one another long enough that she did not have to put any of this in to words she hoped.

He knew the way she had felt about his uncle since they had been sweethearts. .

True, she did not hate him as she once had but he was not top of her Christmas card list either.

"Ok," he nodded knowing that tone of voice.

It was the one that said he was not to push and he did not want to do that. He did not want to do anything to risk the work he had already done in getting her back when they were moving closer at last.

"It just means when she gets here you are going to have spent a lot more time here."

"I think I can cope with that."

She smiled as her eyes went a little wide.

She drew the hand she was holding to her stomach and their fingers unlaced for he knew that look and just what was going on.

He had got used to that over the last few months.

He lay his hand flat over the spot which she was guiding him to and felt his heart fill with love as there was a little force against it.

"God she has no idea just how much we love her already, does she?" asked Justin as his thumb caressed back and forth.

He felt shivers go through him as Adrienne's hand found his hair and begun to brush through it.

"No, I do not think she does. And do you know I have had Sonny ringing me five times a day to see how I am doing and the twins and Alex are on me to make sure I am getting enough rest and promising to come home once she is here…"

It was not just the two of them who were looking forward to this baby coming.

"Her big brothers are going to be just crazy about her."

She nodded. "Yeah… and I think Sonny is rather looking forward to passing on the title of 'the baby of the family.'" Their active little man had always seen it as a dubious distinction – even more so when the other boys had used it against him.

So now to have a younger sibling… it would be nice for him.

"No doubt," said Justin as he continue to stroke Adrienne's' stomach.

As he felt the baby become less active and eventually rest easy, he could not stop himself from, leaning down to kiss the bump.

There was a day soon when they were going to be able to have their own thing but for now – for very obvious reason – Adrienne was in the middle of every interaction which Justin had with the new baby. When he sat back up, he looked into her eyes and Justin knew he was very grateful for that fact. There would have been no way the two of them could have rebonded so fast if it wasn't for the little one.

Adrienne shifted so that she could lean back in to him, her back to his chest, and shut her eyes as he rubbed her back a little.

While she loved being pregnant she had to admit she was going to be glad when she had the child – her daughter – in her arms.

And even more glad when she and Justin were able to get on with their lives and put the events of the previous year behind them.

X x x

"Hope, can I talk to you quickly?" said Bo as he got into work the day after he had had a chat with his mother and Kim.

The discussion about the Thanksgiving meal and brought one big question to his mind and that was if he was going to be spending it with his daughter.

In an ideal world he knew he would love to spend it not only with Ciara but also with her mother, but he had an awful feeling that might just be asking a little too much. Still he was a born trier and he was not going to give up the holidays with his girls. Not if he did not strictly had to.

"Sure – what's up?"

The summer had been good for the two of them he decided. Ever since Kayla's op the two of them had been able to be more the civil to each other.

They had managed in fact to be something which they were never very good at being before.

And that was just friends. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was more than he deserved.

It had always got so complicated in the past and when they had been fraught and in pain but it did seem to Bo as if, at last, they had managed to grow up and just be a dad and mom for the sake of there little girl. That was the best thing they could do.

"Sure," she said as she sat back. "What can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering what you and our little one are going to be doing for Thanksgiving?"

She smiled grimly. That was quite the question just then.

She and Aiden had not had their greatest summer to date. They had only had two – that was fair to say – but she was sure the last summer they had had a bit of fun together.

That one they had been formal and _trying_ to make it work. She knew he was feeling threatened since Brady had been home.

But she was beginning to doubt if there was anything which she was seriously able to do to change that.

The night before she had tried to talk to him about what they were going to do for Thanksgiving. She knew that Doug and Julie were going to be around and they had said they would like it if they were to go for a meal with them, but then she had also known there was a strong possibly that she was going to get asked to go to the pub by Caroline.

Before he had said yes to any of that she had wanted to check with Aiden and see if there was anything which he especially wanted to do.

She did not know why, as she normally would not put him above her family and it angered her – at herself - that she had asked at all.

Especially when he had said to her that he had already set something up with an aunt she had never heard of for him and Chase. It had been a very much closed invite and it had made her face the fact that they not going anywhere fast.

Maybe earlier in the year she could blame Bo for the fact she and Aiden were face a parting of the ways now, even after all he had done – she found she could not.

Because he was the one who had sort her out to speak about Thanksgiving plans and he was the one who… seemed to want to be there for her.

"Well, the truth is I am not too sure yet."

"I – you know if you wanted to come over to the pub and spend it with the family, you'd be more than welcome."

"You know what I know Ciara would love that."

As much as she knew Doug and Julie were going to want she and Ciara with them, it did seem as if it was more important to Hope just then to let her daughter be with her dad.

And besides she was sure Caroline would not mind laying to extra plate.

She could still well remember pop Brady talking about that magic table of theirs.

There was always another seat available.

And she was suddenly aware that it was not just their daughter who this meant a lot to. Bo's face lit up the same way it had the day he had found out his sisters operation had gone well.

He was such a paradox to her those days, she just could not piece together what she knew of him – but then maybe she should not try.

"That would be great, I would love it if the two of you came."

She responded without thinking. "So would I."

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	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

The Thanksgiving football match ended up being a family event much to the chagrin of Jack Deveraux…

What was meant to be a chance for him to bond with his boy turned into a chance for every man in his family to bond with their boys too.

The truth was he did not mind Steve and Joey coming along that much. His brother and he had not had a lot of time together since he had moved in with Kayla. It would help keep a silence between him and JJ from getting to long.

But if he was honest with himself then he knew he could have done without Justin and Sonny tagging along.

Or at least Justin. It was unfair to place his nephew into that category because of his father. But he knew he and Steve were never going to see that – that man – as a friend for a long time to come.

The way he had treated their sister prevented it.

Nevertheless, the six of the climbed into Justin's car together and they were not even on the freeway before the three boys – though Steve thought with a sad smile, neither of his nephews could right be described as boys any more – were deep in debate over who would win the day.

X x x

Part of Stephanie had wanted to bridge the gap which had seemed to have occurred between the Johnson men and the Johnson women that day and go to the game. But at the same time the one thing which she did not want to be doing was getting in a car and going to a football game on thanksgiving weekend.

That just did not work for her. And so she had decided to stay back with the other ladies and keep her Aunt Adrienne company. That was the main reason she was sure that they were staying home. Because at any given moment she was going to go pop and the new baby Johnson was going to come into the world.

Given that she had been such a surprise when she had been announced, Abi had to admit she was proud to be her aunt's niece. The way that Adrienne had just put her shoulders back and got on with what she could not and apparently did not want to change…

It was something to admire that was for sure.

Stephanie and Kayla had brought the chocolate. Her mother had made the popcorn.

And then together all of them settled down to watch _It's A Wonderful Life_.

And it really was.

X x x

Stephanie wondered how long it was going to take to get used to the fact she did not have to sign to her mother any more. She had just been about to ask her if she wanted another drink when she remembered it really was as simple that then. All she had to do was say the words.

"I hope the boys are all going to get along at the game," said Jen as she lazily picked up a chocolate from the tin.

She did think it was a good idea they had all gone but she also knew the way that Steve and Jack felt about Adrienne's husband after everything he had done to her.

But a bit of bonding time for them all before the little miss turned up might be good for them too, she thought to herself. It was not as if Justin was not going to be around for the long hall. He was, If he was serious about Adrienne.

"I am sure they are going to be fine, mom. I can't see dad starting any fights."

Jen nodded, but wondered if Justin and Steve were such a good mix. It would hardly be out of character…

Still she was not going to say anything in front of Kayla. The thought had to be in her head and if it was not then she was not going to be the one to put it there. She was sure her sister in law did not need it.

And it was not as if Justin and Steve were young men any more. They were out with their sons and they were going to be behaving themselves.

Or that was the plan any way.

Suddenly Jen was caught by the way that Adrienne shifted where she had been sitting.

And she was not the only one. Steph and Abi were also looking at her as was Kayla.

She and Kayla were both moms. They had both been in labour.

They knew what it was like.

"Honey are you ok?" said Jen as she looked at her.

"Yes – yes, nothing is wrong." She said as she sat a little straighter.

Kayla looked at the phone, wondering if they should call Justin and the others to come back.

Having her hearing back had been wonderful but if there was one thing in the world which was frustrating her it was that for some reason she still had not recovered her speech.

Steve had threatened the night before that if it did not come back soon then he was going to plot another surprise wedding.

Kayla had not been sure if he was joking or not – she hoped not – but part of her knew at the same time she should not need to go out on a yacht to hear him declare her love for her to be emotionally ready to talk once more. She had the most wonderful family in the world and she had them all round her just then. And they were pulling for her…

So why that was not enough she wasn't sure. It made her feel ungrateful.

"Are you sure?"

"You guys are being worse than Jack and Steve would be if they were there."

Somehow Jen doubted that as her eyes met with Kayla's.

The five of them went back to watching the film but Kayla could not help but be distracted by her sister in law.

Adrienne was not far off her due date but it was still a little early for the baby to be coming. Not that it was going to harm it if it did come right then.

She wished she could talk to her so that she was going to be able to talk in her into going to the hospital.

Still, after the third toilet break which Adrienne had and the others had paused the dvd it did not seem as if it was going to be necessary. When she returned she was not looking as sure as she had been when she had left the room and she was a little red faced.

"Please let me call the boys back from the game. You know Justin is going to want to be here for this," Jen pointed out.

If the truth was known Jen was no fonder of her brother in law right then than the two Johnson's brothers were. But she was able to cover it a little better they were and she knew deep down that Adrienne was devoted to him.

If he was not here to share this moment with her – Well, it was going to be a loss to them both.

This was a moment when they were really going to be together and Justin was going to be able to prove himself to his wife.

That he was there for her and he was going to support her no matter what.

She had a feeling the two of them could do with a new foundation off which they were going to be able to spring board into raising this wonderful new life which Adrienne looked as if she ready to bring into the world.

"I think it is time to all for an ambulance before the boys."

She did not know why she had resisted at first. The minute she had felt things were on the move they should have been on there way to university hospital.

She knew that.

But now she had also had to come up against the fact she was afraid.

It had been years since she had been mother to a new born. All the same thoughts which were in her head then were the ones she had had the day she had found out she was pregnant.

What if she did not have the stamina to do the nights feeds anymore? What if she was not able to meet the needs of the baby?

But then that was her job wasn't it? From the moment this little girl came in to the world she had to be her mother above all things.

As the panicked thoughts raced about her head, she found she was only able to stop and breathe when she felt a hand on hers.

It was Kayla.

And she looked as calm as she ever did.

She may not have been a midwife by trade but she was a doctor and Adrienne knew from the look in her eye that she knew what she was doing.

She led her to the couch while Jen rushed to the phone to ring for the ambulance to come for her.

Stephanie was on the phone.

And Abby did not look as if she knew what to do but she was very excited for the arrival of the baby.

She did know that much…

X x x

The football game for the younger Johnson men was going well.

Joey, JJ and Sonny walked into the bleachers in a line so the three of them were sitting together with young master Deveraux in the middle.

Sonny had a horrible feeling form the look on the face of his Uncle Jack that it was not meant to have gone that way but there was no way he was going to be able to make a scene about that without makings things awkward and Sonny also got the feeling that that was the last thing which his uncle wanted to do. And so he was squished in the middle of the older generation with the tough job of keeping the peace between Justin and Steve.

This was not how it was meant to be.

Suddenly Justin wished he was at home with Victor.

Anything was better than waiting for the moment the brothers of his beloved finally decided he had lived long enough and no longer needed to breathe.

Though to be fair he did not blame them for feeling that way. If he had heard of any other man treating Adrienne the way he had then he knew he was going to want their guts for garters and with good reason.

He knew everything was going to change when the baby came along for he was going to be able to care for both wife and mother and the two of them were going to be able to see how much he really did care for them.

That was going to change everything around. But he knew till that moment he just had to focus on the game and try as hard as he could not piss either one of them off any more than he already had.

"How is Kayla doing?" he asked Steve.

It seemed as if it was a safe question for Justin knew that Steve favourite topic was the love of his life.

"She is doing well."

It was a short answer and it gave him nothing more than he needed to know.

Justin could not help but think that was classic Steve as well.

It was not as if he had ever been very good at given stuff away and been open. That was a problem which all three of the Johnson's siblings had.

Justin wondered vaguely if that was a result of nature or nurture. Nature at a guess he thought as he recalled how far the three of them had been raised from each other…

And Jo had never had any problem showing her emotion.

"You must be looking forward to spending Christmas with her and the kids."

"Yes."

Now he was the one who was wishing he was down the other end of the bleachers with the kids.

At least they looked as if they were having a good time or trying to.

His son got out his phone and was no doubt texting his husband.

He wondered if Sonny was wishing he had stayed home as well.

That was when his own phone begun to vibrate.

No matter who it was he knew he was going to be forever grateful to them, even if it was some insurance company trying to get him some compensation for an accident which had not had.

Anything to get him away from the sparkling company of his brothers in maw he thought to himself.

And when he thought anything that day he meant it.

But when he looked at his phone he saw it was nothing so random as that.

It was Jen.

"Hello."

Another reason he did not want to be there at the game that day was because if there was a Johnson that he did want to be with then it was the one he had married time and time again.

He had not done that out of duty but out of love.

He did not think he could tell anyone in all seriousness that he and Adrienne had had an easy relationship for he knew they had not.

But when all was said and done, what the two of them did keep doing was coming back stronger than before and he loved that about them.

More than anything he loved it about her.

That she was willing to keep letting him try to get it right when he had got it so wrong it the past, he thought to himself.

"Hi Justin, I think maybe you should get back here to my house pronto – or to the hospital, anyway."

He felt his stomach drop.

Adrienne should have a little more time yet but –

"Is she?" he did not need to expand the question any more than that.

For the first time since the six of them had been at the game he felt his brothers in law look at him with something other than hatred.

"Yeah."

Sonny he knew was already trying to get information about what was going on out of him even though he was yet to get off of the phone. He wondered right then why people did that – why when they could see they were not done with the conversation.

But then it did not matter.

All that mattered was his Adrienne and the baby and the fact the two of them were ok.

Nothing was more important than that and nothing was ever going to be.

Nothing.

"We are on our way home." he said as he hung up the phone. "Boys, I hate to cut the game short but Adrienne is in labour."

There was not a single voice of decent.

They had to get back to Salem and they had to do it right then.

X x x

Jen put the phone down and went straight back to the living room.

Though she knew Adrienne had an ordeal ahead of her she could not stop herself from smiling.

The idea that she was going to be an aunt again within the next few hours thrilled her.

It thrilled all of them…

But when she got back in to the living room she found she was surprised by how fast things had moved on.

"I do not know what to do," Jen said as she panicked.

She did not know why the ambulance was yet to come and nor did she knew why Adrienne was coming so fast.

She turned to Abby at first and she saw was doing about as well as she was when it came to keeping calm. Then she turned to see Kayla and Stephanie were doing a little better than they were. In fact it did not appear as if there was a hair out of place.

The doctor and her daughter had got a clear head and at last Jen realized she did not have to lead. All she had to do was what Kayla told her.

So she was soon off to get a towel.

"It is going to be ok, Aunt Adrienne. Mom knows what to do and we are not going to leave you." Stephanie said as she awaited her mother's next instruction.

Kayla may not have been trained in midwifery but she knew enough of the basics to get them through it if they had too.

Which it was looking as if she was going to have too.

Jen did not know a lot but she did know that Adrienne was coming on fast – a lot faster than she had when she had been in labour with Jack Junior and Abigail.

Kayla was pulling a towel under Adrienne as Jen wondered where on earth the ambulance was.

"Mom says that you have to breathe now."

Stephanie said as she translated for Kayla and Adrienne.

"But I feel as if I need to push now." Adrienne cried as the pressure which she felt was being pushed down.

"Mom says not yet," Stephanie said as she stroked back her aunt's forehead.

"But I need too."

"Adrienne, I do not want you to do that, please not yet."

It was the only voice in the room which could have stunned her into obeying.

As soon as Kayla had spoken Stephanie's eyes had filled up with tears. It had been a long few months in which she had nothing more than hope to hear her mother's voice.

"Kayla…" Adrienne grinned the pain of her own labour forgotten for just a moment.

To voice of her sister in law… Adrienne's mind flashed to her elder brother. He should have been here in this room when that had happened.

"I do not want you to think about me right now, I want you to focus on my niece. It does look as if she is ready to make her entrance in to the world."

They took each other's hands.

"Now please listen to me so that we may bring her in to the world safely."

Adrienne nodded. That was all she wanted.

Except… Justin…

X x x

"Can we have driven that any slower?" growled Justin as the six game go-ers got out of the car.

"Not if we wanted to still be alive when we got here," Steve said as he got out of the car. And then together the six of them ran into the old Horton house where Tom and Alice had lived and raised their family. Before they had so much as opened the door they could all hear the cry of a new born from inside.

Jack felt his heart swell. Steve and Justin didn't stop as he did but moved quicker.

Justin crossed to Adrienne as soon as she was in his eye sight and he wished he had been there to help bring the baby in to the world. He knew it was not going to be long until he was in tears.

But what mattered was that the child had arrived safely and it did look like she had, snuggling into her mother's arms as she was.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Adrienne asked as he crouched down by his side.

It was all he could do to nod.

"Yes – yes she is!" he said as he kissed the forehead of the mother and then the baby. "I am so, so proud of you," he murmured as Sonny came to join them, more thrilled than he was rightly able to say that he got to share this moment with his mother and father.

He was always going to remember the day his baby sister came in to the world.

She had chosen her moment well he thought as he looked round the room to see the child was surrounded by her maternal family. And knowing them – knowing the changes which had taken place in them of late, she was always going to have them.

Adrienne rocked back and forth enhanced before looking back at her sister in law.

"I can't believe it. I just can't believe it."

She felt as if her child was a miracle. But she was not the only miracle to have occurred in their family that day.

Kayla looked at her knowing, swallowing, felt Stephanie squeeze her hand and beam.

"Nor can I."

That was the second big shock of the day over for the men – but at that moment she could only see two of them. Joey looked as if all his Christmases and all of his wildest dreams had come true all at once. He was rooted to the spot where he had been standing for just a moment.

"Mom!" he then said as he rushed in to her arms, careless of the duty she had just performed.

His eyes shined. "Say something else."

"Oh I love you baby." They were the only words she wanted to say to him. What she had missed saying to him the most.

Steve watched his kids with their mother as Steph ruffled her brother's hair and the one thought in his head this was even better than on the yacht. Last time he had got to hear his sweetness say her wedding vows to him true, but hearing her tell their son she loved him… it was like a dream.

Knowing that Joe needed this and knowing how much he needed this moment, Steve was careful not to interrupt it, but at long last Kayla's eyes feel on him and shone with all the love he adored seeing there.

She kissed Joe on the forehead, squeezed him one more time and then buried herself in Steve's arms. He was the husband of her heart.

Tears trickled down his face as he repeated one phrased again and again. "I love you, sweetness. Oh God, you can talk, I love you!"

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	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Steve and Kayla sat on the docks as they laughed together, watching the sun go down.

"You know people who pass us by are going to think we are crazy," she said as she sat in the crook of his arm.

"Let them think what they like." He replied.

That was so like him. But the truth was he did not care one fig about what others thought about them. Not just then.

The only person's opinion that had ever mattered to him was hers and he had a feeling he was high in her estimation then.

It was just a hunch.

"What a day," she said as she put her head on his chest.

"Adrienne did look happy didn't she?"

Steve had a feeling she was never going to be able to forget the look of love and tenderness on his sister's face when he and the boys had got back to the house.

She had had her little baby in her arms and she was not likely to let her go for a long time to come.

Except to Justin.

When he had seen his niece in the arms of the man who wished to raise her whether she was his blood or not, Steve was not sure what her felt.

But the way Justin had looked at his two Johnson girls seem to suggest he was not going to be leaving them for a long time to come.

"Yes he did baby," Steve said as he cupped her face and brought Kayla face up so he could look into it. "And I am so glad for her, I really am. But I can't – I can't believe the two of us are here like this, I can't believe we can really talk to one another."

That was the Thanksgiving Day miracle he was glad for.

Her. Kayla Brady Johnson. It was always her.

A smile appeared on her face as she looked into his eyes and then she leaned up to brush their lips together.

No doubt their kids were going to be delighted to have not come with them when they heard there mother and father had spent there evening making out like a couple of teens but that was just what they were going to do if Kayla had her way. Stephanie and Joey had been asked but had decided to give the two of them five minutes to catch their breath. Their kids were thoughtful…

"You have to believe it. It is true and we can trust it…"

"Your voice …" he said breathlessly.

She had to know how beautiful it was to him. It was just so wonderful to hear her again at last.

"I know," she said. She had felt the same way when she had finally been able to hear his once more.

After all they had been through she was glad to know they were not going to take the gift of swift communication between them for granted.

That was something which they should never take for granted.

But it was not just a gift which she relished between the two of them.

"Just as soon as we can I want us to have a dinner party. I want to invite all our lovely friends and family to the flat so we can thank them for the support which they had given to us. Steve we are so lucky!"

She did not know how they would have got through the last few months if they had not had their kids and their siblings and their friends.

They were the most important people in their lives and they had to know that she thought to herself.

They just had to.

"Even now you are worrying about other people. You really are my sweetness," Steve said as he kissed her once more.

She nodded as she leant into his touch.

She was always going to be his sweetness. And he was always going to be her Steve.

A shiver went through her when she thought of all the time which they had been apart but she was only too aware that the time for that was over.

And that what was ahead for them…

It was all good things.

X x x

"I thought you might be going to sleep by now. It has been an exciting day," said Justin as he sat by Adrienne's bed side.

She was prompted up on a pillow in University Hospital, and in the crib next to her lay her daughter.

It had been an exciting day but it had not kept all of them up.

Her little girl was asleep – so theoretically she knew this was the best time for her to get a little shut eye herself.

In future, someday soon she was going to kick herself for not taking the rest while she could but she just shook her head.

"Even after everything I do not think I could sleep even if I tried."

He nodded. He was not going to push it in that case.

After all he felt much the same and he was not even the one who had been through labour that day.

"I do not think you are ever going to know how sorry I am that I missed this little one coming into the world."

"You were there pretty soon after wards," she reassured him.

Justin nodded. There was no use crying over spilt milk.

He ran a finger down the little girl's cheek.

"She is so beautiful. You created something so perfect."

She nodded. She had. "Lucas was here when you took Sonny to get a tea."

"He was?"

Adrienne nodded. "You know he just adores her. And he wants to know if she is a Horton or not."

Justin nodded but immediately felt as if he wanted to scope up the baby and ran as far as he could with her.

He wanted this to be his little girl. Even more than he had thought he had.

When she had been an idea he had wanted to be her dad… but now she was a wonderful reality.

He nodded.

He knew they were going to have to get her tested to be sure one way or another not that he liked the idea. But for now she seemed too small. Even though he knew they were just going to take a spit swab or whatever… he didn't want that for her.

"Well I think we do need to know." That he could not deny. "But I want you to know I stand by what I said. Even if she is a Horton I am going to love her as my own. As the boy's sister and our daughter." He said as he returned his focus to Adrienne and squeezed her hands.

"Have the doctors run there tests on her?"

Adrienne nodded. "She is doing well for now."

For very obvious reasons their paediatrician was going to be a very big part in their lives.

And there baby was going to need extra help.

But she was going to get it and it was going to work out. That much Adrienne did know.

X x x

"Umm… I just spoke to Kayla. She said Adrienne has had her baby," Said Bo as he walked into the pub and found Hope on her own clearing up.

The Brady's had had a great family thanksgiving – and this, he knew was the perfect way to end the day. With the best news he could possibly get. That on top of having his dinner with Ciara and Hope? He felt blessed.

He had told the Donovan's to go ahead with Caroline upstairs so that she was going to be able to get settled and they were going to be getting Tate down for the night too. Ciara had run up after a great day with her mother and her father to put a film on whilst she finished digesting.

Thus it was just the two of them.

"That is amazing news!" Hope said as she dropped what she had been doing and looked at him. "What did she have?"

"A girl but that is not the point here."

Hope looked baffled for a moment as she thought on what he said.

Then it hit her. "You spoke to Kayla?"

He nodded dumbly.

"Oh my god –"

"She said she was helping to deliver the little one and she – she just found her voice."

She laughed a little at her happiness. They had all waited so long for this…

"Oh they must all be so – so glad. We have so much to give thanks for."

Bo nodded up and down and was swept off of his feet she threw herself into his arms.

It was the second time that she had done so since he had been back, and it was just as sweet as the time before.

The weight of her in his arms felt the same way it always did; the ways there bodies seemed to fit in to each other.

He could be told twenty different times, by twenty different people in twenty different languages that they were not made for each other and yet he was never going to believe it.

Not ever…

Bo thought similar thoughts must be in her head from the look which was in her eye.

Hope, for the first time, did not want to reset the barriers which she had been so careful to put up between them. Try as she might, every time she got close to wanting that she was reminded of the fact this was her Brady and as such she was always going to love him. And love being near to him.

She drew back to look him in the eye and the two of them dragged out the moment for as long as they could.

X x x

Justin peered in to the nursery window the next morning. He did not remember a thanksgiving such as the one they had just enjoyed full stop. He had been told to go home but couldn't and so he had stayed all night. There was no way he could pull himself away.

When the baby had been moved to the nursery so Adrienne could rest, the two of them had barely waited five minutes before following her.

"The pedestrians are still running tests but all the early signs are good." It was true they were going to have battles to climb but they could do that. "The doctors think she is going to find bottle easier than breast so we are going to give it ago." Part of Adrienne was sorry for that.

She was going to miss the closeness that feeding her baby herself would bring. But the two of them would find it other ways she promised herself. Typically, they had visited when Justin had been out getting coffee.

"That's good," he said as he looked as he looked at the girl he could not help but think of as his baby. "How long are you too going to be in here? Do they know?"

"Not long."

Her daughter was a healthy, happy baby who just happened to be born with Downs Syndrome.

And it was a good thing they knew.

Knowledge was power.

It meant they could help her.

"The night you both go home – can I stay?"

He did not want to push in but he did want to be there for them.

She looked at him as if she was weighing up her options for a moment before nodding.

They turned back to gaze on their daughter before he saw Adrienne yawn. In order to steady the once more new mother he put her hand on her lower back and was encouraged when she made no attempt to move it. It felt right.

And good.

"You know we are going to have to get our thinking caps on - she needs a name."

Justin smiled. He had not known if he would be invited to be part of that decision and had not wanted to assume anything. But he was so glad he was going to get to be.

"I would suggest Josephine, for your mother but…"

"But she has already got enough grandkids names after her as it is? I agree entirely."

Justin looked sheepish thought her teasing.

"But I do like going with a family name… though maybe something a little different."

They had always served them well in the past and now she thought about it there was an obvious choice as to name her after. Who better than the women who had seen her into the world?

Not Kayla though… something akin to it, but not exactly.

"Katie… Katherine Jennifer."

She wasn't going to go too far wrong named after both her beloved aunties.

Justin put his arms round her.

"I love it. And I love her. And I love you."

Adrienne nodded, swallowed and told the truth. "I love you too."

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	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

Kayla felt as if she was living in a bubble. A bubble made of all the good things in the world as she got into work on Monday morning, with a to do list and a plan.

The weekend had been blissful. Strangely enough though, she felt as if she and Steve had barely spoken at all, communicating instead through touch and expression and desire. The knowledge she could talk to him if needs be was enough. They had reminded each other of how much loved each other, how much they loved their kids and begun to plan once more – because now they knew they could.

Then just like that the week begun. Now as they moved into December, no one was surprised to see the first snow arrive in the town.

Waiting for Christmas to gather the clan together seemed too long though, and so Kayla put into action her planned dinner party.

"It is going to be nice to have everyone here," she said as she snuggled into Steve's shoulder on Sunday evening, still relishing the sheer proximity which was between them.

As for him, he just thought it was nice to be there with her. She was his everything as she always had been and was quite content for them to be alone. But they did have a lot of thank you's to say – so it was best they begun…

X x x

"Oh little sister is so good to hear you," said Kim as they spoke on the phone.

The frost and snow had settled in Salem as November had turned to December but the truth of it was it had been a long time since she felt as warm as she did then.

"It is good to hear you as well," Kayla was just about used to noise again, to hearing voices once more.

For Kimberly, Kayla recounted the story of how she had got her hearing back and there was little doubt in her mind she would be telling it more than once over the next few weeks. Not that she minded all that much… as far as she was concerned it was just an excuse to brag about her little niece and becoming an aunt all over again.

"But what I am really calling about it asking you and Shane to come to dinner."

"Oh Kayla, you do not want to be cooking for all of us at the moment…"

"Well maybe not but I have got no argument with ordering you all in a nice meal."

And when Kim could actually hear how much her sister wanted her there, how could she say no?

As she put the phone down, she turned to Shane with a smile.

"How does she sound?"

"Tired but wonderful. I was just so glad to _hear_ her."

He could have predicted an answer such as that one.

"Do you want some more good news?"

She nodded with a smile on her face. "Always!"

"When you were on the phone to your sister, I got a message from our daughter. She wants to come and stay the weekend with Tate."

The two of them looked at one another as if trying to work out what that meant. There was no point in getting excited.

Yet if their child was happy with her living arrangement then she was going to stay where she was over the weekend. It wasn't as if the mansion wasn't close enough to go back to for the night if she just wanted to visit for the evening…

"Do you think…?" she begun but then held her tongue.

What was going to be would be. But it did seem like a step in the right direction, she wouldn't lie…

X x x

It almost hurt Theresa Donovan to ask but she had too. There was no way to lie about it anymore. Life at the Kiriakis Mansion was grim.

"Is it ok if Tate and I stay here and hang out here while you and dad have dinner with Aunt Kayla and Uncle Steve?"

When she had got there she had been told that they were going and she was welcome to go… but the truth was she wasn't up for it.

Kim tried to act cool.

She knew her daughter and this was going to work out for better if she did not make a big deal out of this.

"Of course, you can honey. Or you can come with us, I know they wouldn't mind you not coming," Kim tried once more.

Theresa knew it was true but she also knew what she was doing was getting ready to admit defeat, for even she could see the facts for what they were. The father of her son did not love her.

And as much as she had tried to make it otherwise she could not.

"I think I just want a night in with my baby."

It was not very like her but it was the truth.

Her mother looked at her for a moment and as much as she knew it was not the right way to go with her girl, she leant forward and kissed her forehead. It was a motherly gesture her child would hate, she thought.

Therefore she was surprised when her daughter actually leaned into the gesture.

Her baby was still her baby after all.

X x x

Hope was gutted by the fact she had missed Kayla's big moment. She wished she had been there with all her heart and she knew her younger brother felt just the same as she did. Bo would have rather been there for her in that moment than be anywhere else in the world.

Thus when she heard that Steve and Kayla were having everyone over for the night she could not be more delighted. Even had she had something else going on that night she would have done everything within her power to clear it so she could be there for her.

Happily it was not required.

By the way that Kay had asked her she knew it was an open invite and if she had wanted Aidan there then she could have had him there.

But she didn't.

And when he asked why, she did the one thing a few months ago she would not have believed she would do and said it was to spare Brady's feelings.

"This is his sister's day. I do not want any more weirdness." And after Thanksgiving and the dinner date there had been plenty of that between them, she was sure even he would have to admit that.

She knew he was not happy about her decision but not even that changed her mind.

When Bo asked her if she wanted a lift Saturday night though she gave an easy yes. She no longer knew why she was putting off what was beginning to look inevitable. The writing was on the wall and they could all see it.

So she let him.

On the way to Steve and Kayla's, they dropped Ciara off with her grandma. Joey loved being with his mum right then but as soon as he heard how many of his aunt and uncles were going to be there he declared it was going to be an adult thing and though he did not want to be rude, he did not really want to be there either.

As ever though Caroline said she would be more than happy to have him and Ciara so the three of them were going to have their own thing.

The ride from the pub to Steve and Kayla's was nothing if it was not comfortable for Bo and Hope. They talked about the police department, the kids. The thanksgiving which had just passed as well as the Christmas which was coming up. Whereas there was a lot which felt as if it had been off topic and limited a while ago, now there was none of that division between them. They had got out the car at the same time and went into the lift. On the way, Hope was very nearly over come with to desire to hold his hand.

She did not act on it but wondered how he would have reacted if she had.

Just before they went into the Johnson seniors they dropped off a present for Adrienne's baby together. Adrienne and Justin had hit the exhaustion point and so were unfortunately not going to be joining them for dinner – but having a new born could do that to you.

Overall, Hope through it all was just unable to shake the thought this was all very much the way it should be.

Finally they knocked on the door of the Johnsons. Brady and herself side by side.

"I am so glad they're doing this."

"So am I," replied Bo and it was then he was the first one to slip and put his hand on Hope's lower back.

"Sorry." he pulled it away so fast it was as if it had been burned.

"I don't mind –"

He was trying to think of what to say next when his sister opened the door to them.

At first they looked as if they were just elated to see her and then they looked at her with expectation.

"Hello you two!"

"Oh Kay!" Hope said as they though their arms about each other.

It had been such a long few months.

"Oh dolly!"

Bo felt as if there was something very right with the world.

"How are you doing baby brother?" Kayla said as she turned to Bo.

"Oh I am a million times better now," he said as they hugged each other.

"Thank you so much for learning how to sign."

"You are so welcome. Oh I love you sis."

"I love you too."

"I hope this lout has been looking after you." he teased as he caught sight of Steve.

"Oh he has." She said looking at him as if he had hung every star in the sky just for her which he would if he could.

Steve and Kayla took their coats and led them into the kitchen where Shane and Kim were with Marlena, John and Roman.

"Where is Stephanie?"

"Oh well as Joe decided to go to grandmas for the night, she has gone to see Abby. I think they felt a bit of girlie catch up for overdue."

"Good for them..."

"I agree. Now all of this is over, I just want the kids to have a bit of fun."

"You and Steve too," Hope prompted.

"Yeah I think so. We are going to book a break soon. Ever just for a weekend."

Hope grinned. "Well I have to say that sounds like a fabulous idea."

"I think so."

It was then that Hope felt as if things were a bit awkward. This might not be the place or time but it could not be ignored…

"Kayla, I do not want to bring this up tonight really, but in the interests of getting all of this behind you as soon as we can, do you want to come to the station on Monday morning?"

"The station?"

"I am sorry bit we do need to take a statement from you about the night you came off the road."

No, thought Kayla. The only good thing about not being able to hear or talk was that this had been a subject she could block off. She did not wish to unblock it even now.

She did not want anyone to know, she certainly did not want to risk any of it ever getting back to her kids. She knew she was not going to be able to handle that.

Her mind begun to race.

"Kayla is that ok?" by the way Hope had asked the questioned she knew it was not the first time she had asked that.

She gave a nod but knew that it was a categorical 'no' and she was in no way ok with that.

X x x

"Well, you tuning up with Sweet Thing has got to be a good sign," Steve grinned at Bo.

"Yeah I hope so."

"I think so."

"And I think you look as if you are a very contented man today."

Contented. Yes that was the word for him. In a very rare him of events Steve did not have too many grips with the word just then.

He had all of his oldest and best friends about him. Kayla was looking and sounding well. He could deal with all of that.

The food was soon to be delivered and he heard his sweetness say something about putting the chips and dips away.

X x x

It was lovely to have every one there and Kayla did not need to be told that both sides of their family were very lucky to be where they were and to have so many blessings right then. She did not need to be told it could all be so much worse.

But there was only one way this was all going to be over and that – for her – was if they never mentioned it again.

The idea of talking about it all with Hope at the station was not one which appealed to her as a pleasing one. In fact she hated it.

And it was such a done deal to all of them that now she could hear and speak that she was just going to spill it all….

Going into the kitchen she felt as if she was able to breathe again for the first time since Hope had said what she had.

She just wanted to move on with her life.

Outside of the kitchen, the table was being set up go for the take away with the cartons of food being lined up and down in easy reach of the dinner guests. They were all laughing and drinking and generally having a very enjoyable time.

They were with their eldest friends.

She knew her sister and Shane were going to be side by side and so had Jack and Jen been since they arrived. Marlena, John and Roman were enjoying themselves. As for Bo and Hope, all you had to do was look at the two of them to know it was not going to be long until something was occurring between them.

And then there was Marcus who loved being back and the life and soul of the party.

But for the first time she wished they were not all here and that it was just her and Steve. Maybe Kim had been right on the phone.

It felt too much all of sudden. All of it felt too much.

X x x

Jack wanted to stay in this moment for a long time to come. He did not think he was able to remember a time when he was this happy. When all his family were well.

And he was so glad to see his brother was in the heart of it all.

Steve deserved that. And Jen was right by his own side for it which made it all so much sweeter.

"So you have invited me and for dinner and now you are not going to so much as give me a plate for my food, I can see how it is."

It was Bo at the end of the table raging on Steve. For a moment it was as if none of them had come back to Salem, which he was so glad they had and he knew from experience it was best not to let them get into it.

"I will go and get you one." Jack offered, releasing they were one plate short as he got up and kissed Jen as he headed into the kitchen. There he found his sister in law. He had seen her come into put the dips away a while ago but he did not think it should be taking her this long. It did not take him long to know something was up – wrong.

He forgot his errand and put his hands on her arms to try and get her attention it was only after he had done that he knew he had made a mistake.

He did not see it coming but she let out a cry she had swallowed down a long time before hand.

It hurt him as he knew that cry. He was sure he had heard it before but he thought that was because of Jen.

"Kayla," he wanted to calm her and to help her but a knot in his stomach said he was not the one who was going to be calm her. Something which he had done years and years before meant he was never going to be able to do that.

The man who was the one to ease her distress her was now coming in to the room and he could sense his brother had the same protective streak in him whem it came to Kayla which he had had from when they were young.

Jack had enough sense to back off from Kayla without being told too.

Months – months and months and she had kept it to herself she had swallowed it down and down until it was so far down she no longer had the words to access it. And so instead she cried. She screamed and she gasped and she could not catch her breathe. As ever Steve appeared to know what to do for her whether he was making it up as he went along or not.

He held on to her shoulders, so as to let her know he was there but not crowd her out. He did not make her feel as if she was being caged in as god only knew that was not going to help.

"What's wrong with her?" he barked at his brother before releasing his anxiety would feed Kayla's.

Jack shrugged in a manner which portrayed both his lack of knowledge and his concern.

Steve turned back to his sweetness. "Kayla, baby you need to keep breathing for me." He said as he tried to soothe her.

But the truth was he did not know how to do that - after all he had never seen her panic like this before. It dawned on him that was what she was doing -having a panic attack. The over whelming urge was to hold her and tell her it would all be fine but he did not think it would help. Whatever had caused this was big. She never panicked – she wasn't a panicker. Something this out of character… the rout of it had to be… well he did not want to think about it.

The guests had all come to see what was up and they were both increasingly aware of it. It was not helping Kayla.

Steve's eye fell on Jack and he felt a long buried anger burn a new. But what had gone on between them was a long-time ago.

A voice in his head told him that this was not Jacks fault.

At least, not this time.

"I am right here with you sweetness. You keep breathing for me."

"You all need to give Kay a bit of room, come on now." Steve did not think he had ever been so glad to hear Kim kick in to big sister mode. The only two who dared to disobey her were Bo and Marcus who stayed behind to help Steve and Kayla.

Marcus set aside the friend and became a doctor.

"Now I want you to take a few deep breathes in and out with me now," said Marcus as he did his level best to ignore Steve's look of 'what the hell is going on Homey?'"

"I do not want to talk about it," Kayla gasped out at last through her tears.

"You don't have to talk about anything; just now in fact it would be a better if you did not. Just focus on your breathing."

"Do you think it is a good idea for us to get her to the hospital?" Bo asked as he looked at his sister.

She had got herself into quite a state and when she had been so unwell already lately, he could not say he was not concerned.

Marcus shrugged – personally he would not mind taking her blood pressure and perhaps giving her a sedative till she calmed didn't seem the worst idea in the world.

But as soon as she heard the suggestion her eyes went wide and Steve had a feeling that should not be the way forward.

"I want her to stay here tonight, in her own bed."

His words had the desired effect for Kayla shut her eyes knowing if she did not want her to be moved then he was not going allow it.

He continued to stroke his hands through her hair soothingly as she nuzzled into him. She seemed to be losing energy quickly, going limp as a doll in his hands.

"Why don't we get her to bed here?" asked Kim.

As far as she was able to see that was the way forward here.

Steve nodded and picked her up. Together with Kim, they went through to the bed room and between them, they got Kayla to bed.

Steve sat on the edge of it, looking at his exhausted love and wondering when the moment it had overwhelmed her had happened and how on earth he had missed the warning signs.

"Just rest your eyes, sweetness," he said as he stroked her hair.

"Don't leave me," anyone else would have missed the murmur but he did not.

"I am never going to leave you again," he promised as he moved closer so he could cradle her in his arms. She breathed his scent in deeply and shut her eyes, locking the rest of the world out for the rest of the night. She would only allow his love in.

Outside of the room, Kim, Bo and Marcus looked at each other all a little paler than they had been before.

"Do you think one of us should stay?" Bo asked.

"I'll take the couch." Marcus nodded. "I'll ring if we need you," he told Kim, knowing her sister might well need her before the night was out.

Kim nodded and she and Bo collected their coats and left in silence. In an odd way, it felt as if Kay had run off the road all over again. It was the same sicken feeling of not knowing what would come next.

In the corridor they found Jack Deveraux, running his hands through his hair and generally looking like he was in hell.

"How is she?"

Kim shook her head. "I don't know. I just don't know." She and her brother left, Hope having been driven home by Shane long ago leaving Steve's younger brother alone, save for the ghosts of the past.

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	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

When Kayla came too in the morning, the first thing which she found was she was so embarrassed by the day before she just wanted the world to swallow her whole. If she spent all day in bed and did not get up once then that was going to be just fine by her.

In the beginning it seemed as if it was going to be fine by Steve as well for he made no great attempt to get her up but rather just lay with her for a while and let her shut her eyes and rest in his arms. Truly that was all she wanted to do he kissed her forehead and played with her hair and it was all just blissful balm to her wounds.

But it was not to last, as was the case she found with all good things.

At around lunch time he left the room and when he returned it was with two steaming hot cups of coffee. She wished she could deny how good it smelt. Her senses were betraying her.

She opened her eyes and the two them just looked at each other for a moment as if they were to figure out what was best to do.

He took the lead as he knew they had to start somewhere.

"How do you feel sweetness?" There was only one thing which she could say to that.

"Like a fool."

"Well none of us see you like that. We all love you and just want to help."

The look which she gave him said she knew that but just at that moment she did not think it helped her at all.

"I want to shove it in a box where none of us can remember it," but she knew it would not happen. And that was half the problem. She had been doing that for far too long.

"We need to get to the bottom of it, sweetness," said Steve gently.

He did not want to scare her but he did not want her to think they could let it go when it was clear something was up.

It would be a lot easier to argue against him if he was not right, she thought, for she knew if it was the other way round then there was no way she would let it lie. She would urge him to talk to her, to let it out.

"Baby…"

"I will talk to you but not to Hope – not yet."

That was as much as she was willing to give for then and it was more than enough for him.

"Ok- was it the idea of talking to Hope that – " he did not have to finish the sentence.

She nodded. That was what had set her off the night before.

She nodded again. "I do not want too."

"That's fine… but tell me baby."

For a moment she was silent as she tried to find the right words to say but could not. She tried to remember how she had done it when she had been up in the cabin.

God she had never wanted the two of them to face another day like this one. And she thought it simply too cruel that they had too.

"It was Grayson," she said and she spoke clearly, knowing she just had to say it, no matter how awful it was.

For just a moment he put off asking the question he had to as he knew full well he was not going to be able to bare the answer.

He knew what it was – every one of his worst nightmares had come true once more.

But he owed her the courage to ask the question as she had screwed herself up to give him the answer.

And the two of them had always practised their courage together.

"What did he do to you sweetness?"

The silence went on forever.

"He raped me."

They were the words which Steve had hoped he was never going to live to hear her say again.

The last time he had forced her in to a marriage which she did not want to be in.

This time he just plain not been around to protect her.

Kayla.

The girl who had opened his heart and just plain reminded him he had a heart. The love of his life. The mother of his children.

No. no. no. no. no.

He moved close and put his arms about her. For there was nothing to do and nothing to say and it was not long until there were tears streaming down both of their faces as they clung together to try and ease the pain.

X x x

JJ came across his dad in the living room. He had heard about what had happened at the dinner and he had felt so bad for his aunt Kayla. They had all got so excited by how well she was, they had let the rest of it get blurred in the excitement. They had forgotten her inner wounds were yet to heal.

But what he did not know was how bad he was going to feel for his dad. He looked as if he was in hell and for all Jack cared he might well be.

Jennifer had all but ordered him come to the Horton house so she could keep an eye on him. She did not need to be told of the effect this was having on him.

One day and his life were going to be ruled by it forever. That was what he had not known or realise when he had been a young man. Back then he had been so damn arrogant he was not so sure it would have made a lot of different to him if he had known what was to come.

But now he was an old man it made all the difference in the world. If you stopped smoking after a single cigarette then he did not think you could be called a smoker.

But it was not the same when it came to rape.

If you did it once then you were a rapist and the always were going to be.

Kayla remembered, the two of them did not speak of it but the memory of the night was going to live in their minds for ever.

He did not expect JJ to come and sit by him. God only knew what his boy had made of it all.

There was nothing to say and nothing to do. But they could be together quietly.

JJ turned on the TV to prevent things getting awkward but he silently vowed to stay with him for as long as his dad needed him.

A man eaten up with as much regret as his dad was should not be alone.

X x x

Steve had gone down to the waterfront for a while to think, cursing himself as he had done so. If he had really been looking for the clues then he was sure he would have figured all of this out a while ago. But the truth was he had been too taken up by the idea that everything was beginning to work out for him. He had been happy to think he had his wife and his kids back and from there on out it was going to be smooth sailing.

He was yet to tell Joe what had gone on.

Stephanie was a different case.

She understood only too well all her mother was going through and so she had taken the news quietly and then gone and sat with Kayla, allowing him to take a breather.

Steve hated that too. He had failed to protect the women he loved time and time and time again.

 _Kayla. Stephanie. Jo. Adrienne._

Well not this time… Grayson was going to pay for this. By hook or by crook he was going to make sure of it.

And so he had gone to see Hope.

X x x

"I knew it was all too much for her, I knew we should not have all gone round. It was too soon," said Kimberly as she raced around the house doing ironing.

Theresa was sad to see her mother in such a state but selfishly glad she had not been at her aunts and uncles with Tate last night. That was the last thing he had needed.

But now she was not thinking about what her son needed but rather what her mother needed. They had had there difference over the years but she did not like to see her upset and upset she was. It was no surprise when she had seen her sister so scared and pained.

"Kim, I do not think any of us could have seen this coming."

"But I am her sister and I considering what I do for a living," if any of them should have seen it coming then it was her.

Shane wanted to reach out and hold her but for the first time he wasn't sure how to do that – or how to comfort her at all.

His panic for her must have shown for his eyes met his daughters.

Theresa took action and crossed the room to her mother, shoving Tate into her arms.

Kim looked surprised for a moment before she looked at her daughter, understood and accepted the gesture for what it was.

She cuddled in her little grandson close, kissed his forehead and hummed to him a little sadly.

She had felt as if she had failed her sister so badly – but here was her little Jeanie trying to tell her she had not.

Well… that was a turn up for the books.

"We are going to stay here with you – for as long as you need us."

Kim knew she was going to need them forever but did not think that admission would do much good just then.

She just had to enjoy the moment and that was just what she would do. Theresa came close and put one hand on the back of her mother and her son and Shane smiled at the sight.

If none of them moved for a long time, he did not think they could be blamed for that.

X x x

"Steve, how is Kayla?" Hope asked as he came in. Part of her still could not believe how the mood of the other evening had changed.

It had worried her ever since.

She wanted to know why it had more than anything.

"Exhausted. You need to tell me all you know about Grayson and you need to do it now."

She felt a sickening realization hit pit of her stomach.

"Why?" she asked. But the look in his eye told her all she needed to know.

Please let it be for any other reason that the one she suspected.

Steve just looked at her.

"No."

"What do you know about him?"

And all of a sudden she knew she had to put Kayla out her head and focusing on trying to stop Steve doing something stupid.

"Well, not where he is which is the only thing you want to know."

And that was so he could tear him apart.

"Don't mess me about Hope."

"Why on earth would I do that? I love Kayla and I am so sorry this has happened."

"Sorry it has happened?" It was just that was no good to him at all and not what he wanted to hear. "It is not as if there was an accident - he raped her Hope."

Steve did love her but the way she seemed to flinch from that words made him angry.

She wanted to hide from it but then so Kayla would have if she had the chance.

But she did not.

At one point not so long ago, he had thought that his life was once more perfect and now it felt as if his life was nothing for what good was any of it was. If he could not keep her safe…

Hope looked him in the eye.

"We are going to find him and we are going to bring him to justice."

"I swear to god we better."

Hope nodded, understanding. Her one hope now was that they could do so in a manner which was not going to see Steve up on a murder charge.

X x x

Later that evening, Hope felt as it the bottom had fallen out of her world. She did not think was an exaggeration to say that. She recalled the day when she had gone to the hospital to see Kayla. She could still see her as she had been in the bed, small and crying.

She had been afraid then and she had had every reason to be - but now Hope knew the whole truth, it made her feel sick in ways she did not think were even possible. That was a fact. She and Aiden had been the one to introduce Kayla and Grayson in the first place. If it was not for the two of them then Kayla would never even have met him

It was then that Aiden walked in.

She felt as if the blood in her veins was ice.

"How was last night?" he asked. The fact she had gone with Bo rankled on him.

"Awful." She was not going to hide it from him or shield him.

It had started out as such a sweet night. She had been back with all those she had grown up with all; it had been like a dream.

And then it had been like a nightmare and it had changed from one to the other so fast that was what she was struggling to get her head around.

"What happened?" he asked. Hope turned to him with emotionless eyes.

"Kayla had a panic attack. Then she told Steve what happened the night she ran off the road."

That was enough to peak his interest.

"And?"

"And Grayson - the man that we introduced her too – raped her that night." She said as they looked one another in the eye.

For a moment his face had no expression at all.

"That's awful."

It was the word which she herself had used and for some reason as it came out of his mouth it pissed her off. Beyond words it pissed her off.

"Yes it is… especially when you consider all she when through when she was younger. "

Aidan nodded. He did not know much. But he knew enough.

"You know all I can think of at the moment is how things were earlier this year." Hope mused as she tried to keep her voice level. "And all I can think of was how afraid she was and how distant you were when I tried to talk to you about Grayson. You were always trying to block the conversation or put it off."

She had been trying to decide long and hard, if she did want to ask this questions and it turned out that she did.

"Did you know he was that kind of man?"

"No." he was a good liar but Hope learnt that night he was not that good.

"Years of being a cop mean I know the truth when I am hearing it – and that wasn't the truth!" He paled but did not deny it. He sat back down at the coffee table.

"There was a rumor at his last company - but I dismissed it as I thought I knew him."

She had had a bit of hope she had been wrong even though in her heart she had known she was right.

"And you knew you were wrong…"

"The day he left. The day of the crash."

"And you left me in the dark when you knew my dearest friend – the woman I look on as a sister had gone through all of that and you never said a word."

So there it was. The two of them were done. She wondered if there was any chance for them when Bo had come back to town. And now she knew it was a no but that had never been anything to do with Brady.

And now at last the shit was hitting the fan all she wanted was _him_ there.

"Get out!" she said lowly.

"GET OUT!"

They were done. They were well and truly done.

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	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Four days – going on near a week there had been something going on with his mother and Joey Johnson knew if he was braver then he would demand to be told what that was.

Any good sort of son would. Any brave one.

But as it was he did not seem to be either.

It was not so long ago he had been fighting with JJ about his cousin keeping things from him. And now he knew in his heart that because it was that bad, he would let his age be a shield.

Everyone was so freaked out – and he did not want to know why.

As he went into the living room he saw his mom was not there but his dad was and as was beginning to be normal he looked as if he was in hell.

But as soon as he saw him his expression changed. He made his eyes light up and he painted a smile on his face. Not so long ago if his dad had tried to do that for him then he was sure he would have seen it as an insult but now he could see all that was behind the gesture was kindness and love.

"How are you doing little dude?"

He nodded, not sure he was able to verbalize an answer for to do that he would have to know what was up and that was the last thing he wanted.

But he did want to know one thing. The thing he needed to know above all else.

"Is mom going to be ok?"

Steve wasn't sure how to answer that at first. The strongest part of his reason said 'no' for how on earth could anyone be ok after going through what she had. But then there was a little voice in him which said they had been here before, which he hated even more for no one should go through this once let alone twice. But it did mean just like so much of what had happened of late, Kayla had faced it down once already she could do it again even if she should really have too.

"Yeah she is."

It might not be for a while yet but he knew in his heart she was going to get there.

There was a silence before Joey felt the need to confess to his dad as if he was a priest on Sunday. The way nothing quite like a shot of catholic guilt.

"Does it make me a coward that I have not asked mama what has happened to her – I just do not think I could take it dad, I really don't…"

Steve was as quick as he could be to hush his boy.

"No, it does not make you a coward. I think it shows a lot of self-knowledge and understanding of the situation. And in an odd way I think it will help her a lot."

In fact Steve knew it would. In that moment Joey both did and did not seem a lot elder than his 12 years.

All Steve knew for sure was he felt a lot of pride and he wrapped his arms about his boy.

"There is going to come a day when your mother and I cannot keep the bad that goes on in this world away from you but for now we can. Let us."

One day he would have to know the entire ugly truth all the way back to Jack.

And there was no way he could stop that. But that day wasn't here yet he thought fiercely.

And Steve would keep it at bay as long as he could.

X x x

In a way, Kayla was glad the truth was out. It made life easier in the sense there was nothing between her and Steve. And she was glad the kids were not there when it happened – when she had panicked. But in other ways it was no stretch of the imagination to say she wished she could have swallowed it down forever. She hated that everyone else had been there when she had broken down. Days later and her heart was just as heavy.

And that was not much of a surprise.

She rolled over and was saddened to see that Steve was not there but she did not think she could claim to be very surprised.

He was a light sleeper at the best of times and at the worst of them he just did not sleep at all. And she was no fool and knew he very much would call this time the worst of times.

As for her she had seen worst days. Kayla grabbed her dressing gown off of the side and walked out into the living room and was unsurprised to see her man was on the sofa and he was brooding.

Of course he was.

She cleared her throat.

"Oh baby I did not see you there," he said as he turned to her.

"I woke up and you weren't there," she sighed.

"Sorry about that. How do you feel?" he asked.

"I don't know. Wretched, exhausted, relieved," she sighed. "What about you?"

He was angry. The only other time he had been this angry was when Jack had –

He shut his eyes.

"I – I just – I am so sorry I have let you down."

If he had been there then none of this would have happened.

"That is not what happened."

"Yes it is sweetness. And it happened far too many times." He took her hand in his. "I am so sorry."

"So was I." she said. On second thoughts, if he wanted to play the play game then she was going to let him.

At the time she wished he had been there for her. He had not been because he had chosen to walk away.

And now she felt angry. She had felt angry and confused and hurt about it long before any of this had happened. And now it was her chance to ask why. She pulled her hand away.

"You took so many choices away from me when you left. And you did let me down when you left me."

He knew he had.

"Baby I was trying to do the right thing –"

"By leaving me and Joey on our own in a country that wasn't our own, by telling me that it was over? I have spent my life loving you." She shook with emotion.

And at the time she had thought it was all for nothing.

All that passion and all that love…

Then all that doubt.

"It seemed right at the time."

"How was us being apart ever right? What good ever came of it?"

He swallowed down the guilt.

"I should have been here to prot –"

"No. You should have been here for our son, you should have been here for our daughter. You should have treated me like an adult instead of a child!"

As far as she was concerned protecting her did not come into it.

The two of them were not the people they had been when they had met. He remembered the way he had told her to stay out of things that weren't her business, not to go to Stockholm, to not get involved with Orpheus or Victor later on.

And she was the first to admit he was the one who had got her out of more than one sticky situation but that had always gone both ways. She had saved him as many times as he had saved her.

Any debts which had been between them were always paid in kind and in full.

"Did I never prove myself to you at all?"

She knew she was over emotional and this was the time to stop.

But she couldn't.

"Sweetness what are you on about?"

"Did you think I was so weak you were not able to confide in me?"

"Over the years the two of us have been in each other's lives I have thought of you as many things - but not once have I thought of you as weak."

"It doesn't feel like it –"

"Sweetness, what are you –"

"Maybe that is why Grayson targeted me. Maybe that was why Jack did what he did so many years ago."

"No – " Steve had not meant to raised his voice to her but he had. "No, I know you do not believe that!"

"Oh and now you think it is ok to tell me what I think."

He bite his tongue.

"Kayla baby –" this was tearing him iup.

"Just so I know how long are you here for this time?"

"Kay –"

"How long am I going to get to be the dewy eyed love struck teen till her hero leaves her?"

"I am not leaving you."

"I have heard that too many times before – and I trust you as much as you trust me."

He paused for a moment as he tried to keep his heart in once piece.

"Then you do so implicitly."

She did not know how to answer that but he could feel the tension rolling out of her. It was not like her to feel the need to go on the attack so he knew how angry she was – he had known for a while.

"What do you want from me?" he asked. What did she need from him?

But Kayla didn't know just then. Tearing strips off of him wasn't making her feel any better as it turned out - yet she wasn't willing to run into his arms.

Part of her still hated how he had treated her and that was never going to change and right then she could not act as if nothing had happened. The problem was she did not know where that left them.

Neither did he.

"I want you to stay." She did know that.

The same thing as always and she hated to admit it right then.

"I am staying, sweetness," he said as their eyes married. "I won't leave you – and my actions will speak louder than my words soon. I just need a chance to prove it. Please baby – one more chance."

X x x

Adrienne had woken up that day to the sound of silence which she had not thought she was going to do again for many years to come until that day. However unlike most new moms she knew she did not have to worry about that and that Katie was just going to be out in the living room with Justin.

He had been a god send since she had come home and did everything which was in his power to spend just a little more time with his princess whenever he was able to.

And as to date he had not let her down once.

There was a voice in her head that said she did not know if she was able to trust him yet for it was still early days… and if she did so then she was nothing short of a fool but they were all getting to the point where they begin to hope.

For Katie's sake. For it was obvious the adoration was very mutual between her husband and her baby.

She had a long hot shower before she went out in to the living room and went in feeling refreshed to find her daughter and her man on the sofa as she had known she was going to.

It did seemed as if Justin had had his breakfast as there was a cereal bowl on the coffee table and now he was giving his daughters her own.

He had always looked good with a baby in is arms she thought to herself as she remembered the way he had taken to fatherhood when they had been young.

It had not been much of a challenge for him.

"You let me sleep in," she said as she grabbed a coffee and went to sit by his side. Being able to drink coffee once more was one of the best things about not being pregnant.

"Well I thought after the way I heard this little pickle keep you up last night you might want the extra rest."

"I am not going to say you were wrong. Thank you."

He shrugged her comment off. The last thing in the world she had to do was to thank him.

"How's she been?"

"A little angel."

"As she is always is for you."

And for her uncles for that matter. She took a sip of coffee as she thought of Steve and wondered how things were that morning.

She was yet to get the ins and outs of it all – but whatever had gone on over the hall she knew was bad. She had tried to get it out of Jack but he had been cut up by it all – far too much so to speak of it.

"Are you ok?" Justin asked.

She nodded and lay her head on his shoulder. "I was just taking a moment to count our blessings."

No matter what else was going on in the wider family, they had their baby and for all the challenges ahead of her she seemed as healthy as a horse.

And they had each other.

And the boys.

So yes… to Adrienne Kiriakis, counting her blessings right then seemed like a very good idea.

X x x

Hope did not think she had ever felt more ashamed of herself than she did then. Part of her said this was all down to Aiden but if she truly believed that then she had a feeling she would find this all a bit easier to deal with.

As it was, it was tearing her apart so she had sort the comfort of the Horton Town Square. It was odd how much she felt her grandparents here. They had not been here when it was built so it was strange it was to feel them here she believed. But she felt them all the same.

It was as she was sitting there that she heard a pair of footsteps behind her. She did not need to turn to know who it was. She could feel him when he was close too.

Bo… for the first time in a long time she felt it was not him who was wanting but her. She had let the whole family down and she did not how she was ever going to make it up to them. She did not know how to make it right.

"Fancy Face," he said with a sigh. If he had his way then he was going to kill Grayson by his own hands and that would be as much for Hope as it was for Kayla.

She looked up at him with tears running down her cheeks.

"Come here," he sighed as he sat by her side and put his arms about her.

"This is all my fault."

"None of this," he hushed her as he kissed her forehead. "is your fault."

"But – " but it was in a way.

She did not think she would ever get over it.

It felt like it used to when he had used the old endearment and before she even knew what was going on, she had tears rolling down her checks. She felt a more than a little like a fool but did not protest as he held her. At least if her face was buried in his shoulder he could not see it.

"Damn it where were you?" she asked him for what she knew as going to be the last time.

"It does not matter. I am here now," and he was not going to be going anywhere else.

They stayed on the bench together for a while, him holding her close and running his hands through his hair. It was so soothing she was not able to put it in to words. As for what was said, that was almost nothing at all. There were no words needed sometimes, but that did not mean the two of them were not communicating. Hope found herself wondering if this was the way Steve and Kayla had found their way back to one another, if they had heard the sounds within the silence. She thought it likely.

In the end they both got up together and walked home to see their girl. The smile on Ciara's face when she saw them together was a tonic to both their hearts.

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	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

"How are you doing big brother?" said Adrienne as she walked across the pier pushing Katie's pram.

Justin had had to go to work that afternoon so of course it was then that there girl had decided she did not want to go to asleep and so her mother had wondered if a little walk was going to do the trick.

When everyone had found out she was having a late baby, everyone had wondered Adrienne about how much more tired she was going to be this time but no one had said she was going to be so much more patient she'd be too.

The things which she had thought were causes to stress with the boys just did not seemed to affect her the same way with her daughter.

It was as if they had all the time in the world now and when the boys were young she had felt as if she had had to do everything in a rush. She'd had no time at all.

Looking back she wondered if that was because she had been so aware that as soon as she had got one of the settled, she was going to be needed by another one of them.

Whereas with their sister – well, it was as if Katie was an only child, not that Sonny was going to thank her for thinking like that.

He had brought Ari over to see the new baby every chance she got.

Talking of people who had been eager to see her new baby, Steve had numbered one of her most frequent visitors when she had first had the wee one but he was a fool if he thought she had not noticed he was not coming to see them as much lately.

And he looked down.

"Not so bad – how are my babies?" he asked as she came to his side.

He threw arm about her and held her just a little too tight as if he was trying to keep her safe from an invisible enemy.

She did not like that.

"Well one of them is so tired that all she can do is fight her sleep and the other would like to do nothing more than to curl up sleep if only she had the chance!" She said as she stood next to him.

"You're in that phase at the moment?" he asked with raised eye brows.

"Oh yeah." She said to him with a nod. And she would be for the next few years.

"Well why don't you get this pretty pink bundle of joy home, you do not want her to get cold."

"My daughters is well wrapped up as you can see." Adrienne pointed out and Steve found he was not able to protest that. He was sure he could see three separate blankets in there doing a sterling job of keeping the baby warm.

"No, the one I am worried about right now is my big brother."

And he knew that tone of voice. It was the tone of voice which said he was not going to get away from her until she knew just what was going on.

And he did not want to burden her – not at a time which should be the happiest of her life.

Yet he knew he had to give her something.

"Oh come on Adrienne baby -"

"Don't you 'Adrienne baby' me, not this time!"

"Well, it is just that this old tom cat feels as if he has lost another life –" he said with a shrug not wanting to go in to any more detail than that, if only the look in her eye would allow it to rest.

Which was always unlikely.

It was time to come clean, clearly.

"I just feel as if I do not know what to do for her, for Kayla."

"Of course you know what to do for her – you do what you always have and be there for her to talk to when she needs you."

He shook his head as he remembered the fury she had felt towards him.

"I do not think that is going to work this time."

"Of course it is. She is a strong lady – and she is going to get through it. It sickens me that she has to but she will," she said with confidence as she spent a moment trying to think on how her sister in law might be feeling right then but then she did everything she could not to think like that.

She had to be at the top of her game for her daughter right then and so she could not dwell on the past. For that way laid rumination.

And she had to be there for her brother too.

"You are going to be ok as well."

"I think I am going to lose her this time."

"No – no, you won't. You have just found each other again," she said to him with confidence.

She was not one to believe in fairy tales but ever since she had seen them together when they had all been so much younger she had believed in Steve and Kayla.

Anyone with a brain would believe in the two of them.

She looked up at him and tried to decipher how he was feeling really. When he wanted to be a closed book he absolutely was and he would do his best to make sure no one got through that impenetrable armor of his.

Of course, Kayla had always been one of the ones who had been able to break through the layers but then lucky for her so she was she.

"Now the only way you are going to lose her is if you let all this to drive you to do something stupid."

"What? Like commit murder?"

"Exactly."

Steve gave her a look which told her just what he thought of that.

In his opinion for the entire family and all concerned killing Grayson was going to be the most sensible thing he could for all of them.

"She needs you here on the outside so that you can help get her and the kids through it. I mean it Steve. You want a fight, then you go pick a fight with Bo or Marcus so they can put you back in your box before you do anything dumb. But you do not dare jeopardize your freedom when Kayla needs you. When Staph and Joe need you… and when I need you too."

It was such an impassioned speech that he did not know why it made him chuckle a little….

Still she got the oddest feeling as if she might actually have got through to him for once which was going to be a new one. On both of them.

He sighed and put his arms about his sister for a moment.

"Thank god you are always here to talk some sense in to me when I need you to do that the most."

She nodded. "Well, you have been there for me in the past more than once and you are going to be there for me again in the future as well."

Of that she had no doubt.

Steve nodded and felt the need to change the subject so he peered in to the pram.

"How is she?"

Adrienne nodded. "Well. She is doing well. We have regular pediatrician appointments and we won't know for a while yet how much she can do on her own. We've been warned she's going to be late hitting her mile stones but I think she will hit them when she is good and ready."

"No one is going to rush our cool little dudette?" he asked.

"Exactly!"

He nodded. "And she is going to have her family around her to get her to them."

Adrienne agreed. Every step on the way.

The was how their family met their challenges after all.

x x x

If the days of the doctors who made home visits had ended then no one had told that to Marcus Hunter.

After the dinner party he was sure to call in on Kayla every day – not to pressure her as to what had gone on as she felt so many others wanted to but just to check of her health both physically, and as much as he could mentally.

She would know what he was up to and at the time she might not thank him for it but in the long run she would.

And he knew she would do the same if the cases were reversed.

In the days immediately after she was drained – as if saying the words had taken all the life out of her.

No wonder he thought to himself.

She had had to be strong for a very long time – and he could not imagine the weight of the secret which she had had to carry.

But suddenly that weight was gone from her and she could collapse and let those who loved her best take the strain.

And that was just what she did.

Kayla returned to her room for a lay down once they were done and he headed out in to the kitchen where he helped himself to a coffee.

This was his homey's house and that made it his house.

And he needed a coffee.

It was as he was nursing the mug at the breakfast bar that the door to the living room opened and his niece came in.

She did not so much as bat an eyelid at the sight of him there.

"How are you doing little lady?" he asked.

She shrugged as she let her bag fall down her shoulder and on to the floor.

She had hoped she was going to find a better job than helping her grandmother at the pub, which was of course a Brady summer job tradition but as of yet nothing had come. And it was winter.

Still there were much bigger problems in her life and she knew without a shadow of what he was referring too.

She sighed.

"How do you think she is doing really?" that was the real question.

Marcus shrugged. "She is getting there. I know I do not need to tell you about how much time it takes."

No, he did not. She shook her head and gave thanks he was not going to lecture her.

But then lectures had never been his style.

He was a kind and comforting soul though and she knew she could talk to him as she always had been able to do in the past.

He was looking at her in a way that said he knew something was up. if she knew him then he was not going to let it rest until he knew just what that that was, which was kind of handy as she wanted to talk to him.

"I am worried about mom and dad."

She had got home the other evening to find a more peculiar atmosphere between the two of them and her parents did not normal go in for atmospheres.

That simply was not their style.

"They are both suffering a lot right now but they are going to be fine."

"Are they?" she asked him in all seriousness.

When they had first got back together she had been terrified that her dad was going to leave her mother but now she had a horrible feeling that it was going to be the other way round and she was not sure if she could bare that.

One. because she knew no matter else had gone on her mother loved her dad.

And also because that meant she was going to regret it in the long run.

He looked at her and she knew he felt sorry for her, though not in an unkind way. He cared about her family as much as she did as in many ways they were his family too.

That did not meant she had to like it though.

"Can I admit something which makes me more of a kid than I would like?"

He nodded.

"I do not want the two of them to split again."

And to think when they had first got back together she had made sure her concern about the two of them splitting was all for Joe but –

But she had seen her mother without her father and vice versa and the thing was, it never made either of them happy and then as a result she and Joey weren't happy and she was sure they had all been through more than enough pain as it was.

"And I do not think they will – but if they do it is not going to be either of their faults – and it does not make you a kid for you to want them to stay together." It made her human and adult.

"If I know your mom at all, I know she is going to come through this stronger for it. And when she does she is going to want your dad there for her." He had never known her to take any real interest in any one else and he did not anticipate that ever happening now either.

"So keep the faith, ok?"

Stephanie nodded her head and let him give her a hug.

And then she prayed he was right.

x x x

If Adrienne a had half a chance then she would have visited Kayla a lot sooner than she had. When she has heard what she had been put through it had made her sick and angry and all she wanted in the world was to change what had happened.

But she could not.

And she was no longer her own boss. And typically that was the time when Justin had had to go to work. Honestly there was nothing like timing some days.

Getting out the flat some days alone could be a nightmare.

Even if it was just over the hall way.

She waited until she'd had her brother leave and then she picked up her daughter who for once seemed to be playing the game of letting them go out and knocked on the door.

It was with a long suffering sigh Kayla opened the door.

"Did you forget your key?" She asked before she knew who it was. "Sorry – hi Adrienne!"

"No, we have come for a visit with Auntie Kayla."

Her face softened. "And about time to, hi baby Katherine," she said softly as she took her in her own arms and relished in the newness of her niece, "Hi baby girl," Kayla cooed over her.

Adrienne saw she was not needed and went to make the coffee.

"Is she sleeping through?" Kayla asked on Adrienne's return, once the two of them were settled on the sofa.

"Not quite. She wakes up once or twice a night."

The baby started a little before shutting her eyes.

"How are you coping with that?"

"Actually… ok. Justin is there to do at least one night feed a week if not three."

Kayla tried not to raise her eye brows.

"And that is all working out?" she asked.

Adrienne nodded. "It seems to be. He does love being a daddy again."

"And Steve and I love being an aunt and uncle again." She looked down at the little girl. "Thank you for calling her Katie."

"Think nothing of it. I wanted her to be named after someone who is brave."

She had a feeling as she grew her daughter was going to need no small amount of courage herself.

Kayla smiled sadly.

"I do not know if naming her after me counts then."

"Well I know!" said Adrienne as she tried to give her confidence. "And that is enough for us to be going on with."

There was a silence between the two sisters in law which Adrienne did not take a lot of time to break.

"What you went through – I won't say how sorry I am for what you went through we are both aware just how useless that is."

She nodded.

"But I will say this," Adrienne sighed "you got through it once before and you are going to do it again."

"But I did not have to kids to worry about."

She knew that should make her fight harder – but it just made them want to shield them more. Thankfully Joy seemed to want to shield himself but there was not a lot she knew she could do about Stephanie.

But as illogical as it was – she wanted to protect them even when she couldn't…

"If I were you I would find it just as hard." She could not even imagine what it must feel like. If she ever had to give the twins or Alex or Sonny that news… "But Steph and Joey are sensible and Steve will help you through."

Steve… Kayla looked down at her little niece and stroked her tiny fingers.

"I was pretty hard of Steve the other day. I think what I said – I had a point but the way I went about it the wrong way and –" she had not been kind to him.

Adrienne could see how uncomfortable whatever had gone on had made her.

"The thing about my big brother is he has a thick skin so I am sure he could take it."

Kayla shrugged, for was she not so sure.

He had looked pretty broken by the time she had got through with him.

"Kayla, if things are not right between the two of you can I make a suggestion?"

Kayla looked at her waiting for the big epiphany. "Talk to him again."

She laughed a little. "Talking hasn't come so easily lately."

"Of course it hasn't – your still getting used to being able to talk again. But Kay – you can talk now. And I swear to you – you'll be heard."

For there was no good to be found shouting into a void. Yet that was not what Kayla was doing.

Ears were all around her.

The doctor nodded and rocked her niece, thankful suddenly for Adrienne who had brought with her not only her new niece, but the reminded of the gift of simplicity.

X x x

Kayla found Steve in the living room after his return. Takin a deep breathe, she got straight to the point.

"I did not mean half the things I said to you." She knew they had been cruel and full of anger and she had not meant what she had said. But the genie was out of the bag now and there was no way of putting it back in.

"Either way you had every right to say them, sweetness," sighed Steve as he sat on the sofa.

She came and sat at his side.

"I think we are going to have to agree to disagree with that one."

She had been angry with him for one crime and so she had blamed him for another of which he was faultless. He had never doubted her – she knew that in her heart.

"I want you to go to the police with me," said Kayla in no uncertain terms.

She had had enough of sitting at home trying to make sense of it all on her own.

If her life time had taught her anything, it was that it was not for the victims of attacks such as the ones she had been subjected to over the past twenty years to make sense of. They were the choices of people who were desperate for power and would take it by any selfish violent means that they could.

It did not reflect on her or her marriage or her family.

What reflected on them was the love which they held in their hearts for each other and the way they came through it all now.

He looked up at her, his eyes determined.

"Kayla, if you do not want to do that then I am not going to have any one make you."

But she shook her head. "I love you for wanting to keep me safe but I know what I am doing. I know what I can and I can't do. And what I cannot do is leave him on the streets to do this to another family."

She had never been one to do nothing for she was no good at hanging back.

He looked at her with shining eyes as he had done since the two of them had been young.

If he was still looking at her like that then maybe the world was not such a bad place after all.

"Sweetness I am so proud of you."

After everything she had suffered… as normal, it just made her stronger and more able to cope. Not less so.

She shrugged – she wasn't sure why sometimes, though that was a voice she did her best to silence.

Still she would take it.

"So will you come?"

"Are you kidding me? Wild horses are not going to keep me from your side – not ever again."

As long as they lived he swore to himself they were going to tackle every fight which they had to fight together and head on.

There was nothing else to it.

She crept into his arms and stayed there for a long time, glad to think they were on the same side and fighting this together.

For as long as nothing was between them then nothing was going to break them.

"I'm sorry, Steve."

"You don't ever need to be sorry to me – not ever," he said as he kissed her forehead firmly and met her eyes. There were so much to be said – yet not right then. "I love you."

"I love you." She nodded.

From the doorway, Stephanie sighed softly and thought that her Uncle Marcus must be able to see into the future.

Thank god.

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	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

Bo was working on duty at the station the day that his sister came to report the attack.

Due to the family connection between him, Hope and Kayla the two of them were prohibited from taking her statement for which he was almost grateful.

He did not want to know the details.

She arrived looking put together and fierce – it was only when she had to go with the officer who she was going to be talking too that her courage seemed to flag a little.

Steve held her hand to his own for a moment as they looked at each other and she hoped she was right in thinking that the worst part for her was over now.

She really needed the worst to be over.

But then there was that old mantra in her head saying she had done all or this before and thus she could do it again.

 _She had done it before._

 _She could do it again._

"Kay, we love you and we are going to be right here for you when it is all over," said Hope.

She still felt as if things were slightly off between them after all that had gone on but Hope was not going to let that stop her from being there for her now.

The two of them had been sisters for too long for that to happen.

"And I am not going to go anywhere, sweetness. I am going to be here thought-out."

"You are not going to leave the building?" she asked as she grasped his hand. She did not know why it mattered to her that he stayed close when he couldn't come into the room with her but it did. She needed him.

She needed him there as she had never had before.

"Not for a moment." He sighed cupping her face. "Not for a second. So you go in there and you tell it how it is… and if it gets too much at any time you just come straight on out that room and your old tom cat is going to be here waiting for you."

She looked into his eye and saw the fierce truth in it.

He would go nowhere whilst she needed him.

She came closer and careless of the eyes which were upon them she kissed him. No one else mattered right them, just the two of them.

He kissed her lips and then her forehead and then wrapped his arms about her so that she could bury her face in his chest.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

She was suddenly so aware of the police officer who was going to be taking her statement. She stuck out like a sore thumb she thought to herself for she was the only one who was not family.

"Take your time Ms Brady," the police women said to her but she knew that was not going to help matters.

If anything they had to get on with it. Get it over with.

She looked Steve and he gave her the nod that said no matter what else was going on he knew she could do this and he had every faith in her.

And it gave her courage to have faith in herself.

She just needed to keep that courage, which had always been so important for them both. As she passed her brother and the women she loved like a sister she took both of their hands and squeezed them.

Part of her said she should have stopped for a hug but that was not important. What was important was that she kept going one foot in front of the other until this thing was done. And then she could go home.

X x x

Part of her screamed that this should have been one of the most emotional moments of the whole thing but once she was in the interview room Kayla felt curiously calm. It was as if she was able to disconnect herself from it all.

She was Steve's wife in her heart and she was the kids mom and this lady here giving the statement was not who she had to be when she went home that night.

That was a comfort to her. And so she spoke gently and clearly, picking each word as carefully as she could so that there was a reduced chance of any one changing her meaning. She knew he was going to try but she was not going to help him.

She kept herself calm and cool, and took a breather to get herself through the rest of it whenever she needed too and reminded herself that she got to go home that night with a man who loved her and the kids they had made together.

She would go home to safety and this entire nightmare was going to be closer to being over. She just had to breathe.

X x x

When Kayla got out of the interview she went straight to Steve and threw herself in to his embrace.

Yes this had been her own choice and she had said she was fine doing it and so she was.

But when it came to it she did not think it had made it any easier at all.

The Brady's had been sure to teach their kids from when they had been young that nothing that was easy - or hardly anything easy - was ever worth it but the rewards when you did something greater was worth it and thanks to the example of her parents, Kayla did believe that.

But it did not make the harder stuff any easier to do.

She shut her eyes and nuzzled in to his shoulder careless of the fact that Bo and Hope were watching.

But why should the two of them who loved them care? The four of them loved one another dearly and if one of them could bring a little comfort to another that was what they had to do.

"Kayla do you want a cup of coffee?" her brother asked. He did not know quite how that was meant to help but he wanted to be able to do something for her and as Steve seemed to have cuddling her covered, there was not a lot else he could do.

And their mother always put a hot drink inside someone who she thought was having a rough time. She said it was a small act of love and he happened to agree with that.

But she shook her head.

"The truth is I am so tired all I want to do is to go home."

There was nothing wrong with her that a good night's sleep wasn't going to cure she thought to herself but she did want to get out of the police station.

It felt too much to be there right then.

Steve nodded, and they said their goodbyes and they got out of there, with his arm about her shoulders, side by side.

X x x

There was a different kind of quiet in the apartment to where there was anywhere else in the world in Kayla's opinion. It just brought peace to her. Whereas the quiet of so many other places disconcerted her, here it filled her with warmth.

She shut her eyes and just let herself be the sort of glad she always was when she was home. Here was where she got to be Steve and the kids and no one else.

She turned to her partner in all things and gave him a sad smile.

They had not said a lot on the way home – she had just held his hand as she enjoyed brushing her shoulder on his and felt glad been glad to have him so close. She had been so lonely for him when she had been being interviews. Part of her had been waiting for him to batter down the door and save her from it all but of course he had more respect for what she wanted than all of that.

As for Steve the car ride home had been a little different.

He had been racking his brain trying to find anything to say to comfort her after all she had been through but there were no words.

No words to take it all away.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked finally. Part of him wanted to know everything that was said and yet there was a part of them which he hated which wanted to know nothing at all.

He knew his ignorance was bliss.

She shook her head.

"I have done enough talking about it for now –" there was going to be no good which could come of it. They just had to wait for the cps to find the case now and that was there involvement over for the time being.

"Is there anything which you do want?"

She raked her brains to try and find what she did wanted and then her stomach answered for her. She had been so nervous over it all when she had got up that she had not been able to eat a thing but now – now she thought yes. She was going to be able to eat.

"Can I say lunch?"

He nodded. "Of course you can. You sit down, and put up your feet. I will get the lunch on sweetness!"

X x x

The kids got back at different times that night but Steve was amused to see the two of them did the same thing – they dropped their stuff and then went to the side of her mother to give her a big hug.

They all needed it.

Stephanie did not ask what had got on that day. She had once gone through a similar interview herself and knew how ghastly they were, how they made you relive the details you would far rather forget.

She wished she had been able to do anything to save her mother from all that but of course there was nothing which she could do but be there for her at the end of the day which in Kayla's estimation was plenty.

Joey, when he got home, went over to the sofa and put his head on her chest. He knew she had had a long day and maybe he should leave her be but that was not the vibe he was getting from his mother or his father for that matter.

"Hi baby," said his mother as she gathered him close and rocked a little as she may have done when he was younger.

The two of them had often they had sat like that together when they had been in South Africa, Steve thought to himself. He could so remember the way their exhausted little boy had gone up to his mother and cuddled in when he had needed her and the way Kayla had seemed to just wrap him up in her love.

It made him grateful for her – even more so, for the wonderful mother which his kids had but that day it made him grateful for their boy and for the wonderful son which they had.

Kayla would never have asked him to stay with her but he did.

And after the fraught morning which they had had a stillness seemed to descend.

And if it was a strain on Kayla it showed not at all.

But the truth was it was a tonic to her and she felt her battery begin to recharge at last.

X x x

The day after she had given her statement Steve had woken up to find that Kayla had already got out of bed and he did not like that.

God knew if she ever needed her rest then it was going to be after the day before.

He grabbed his robe from the back of the door and made his way out into the kitchen to find Kayla there, up, bright eyed and dressed.

"Baby, what is going on?"

"What does it look like? I am getting ready to go to work."

Now that it was over, she felt as if for the first time in a long time she had energy again. And she had a bit of power as well. She remembered feeling much the same when she had spoken out about Jack and she could not believe of all the things which she had forgotten, she had gotten how good it felt to say that they were not going to do this to her any more.

"Baby you do not have to go back yet – you need rest," he said as he wondered over to her. If there was one thing he was not going to have it was someone pushing her too hard right then.

Even if he had to stop her from doing it.

"I know I don't and yes I do – but I can do a day's work. The truth is I feel quite invigorated."

She felt as if she was Doctor Brady once more.

He looked in to her face as he tried to find the lie but it was not there. Then why would it be? if there was one thing his woman was not it was a liar.

"You do not have to worry about me – at least not today. You can even go and do a day's work yourself if the mood so takes you," she said with a teasing smile.

"Can I now?"

She nodded.

"And when we get home – we can see how invigorated we both feel."

Ever since the dinner party, it had gone unsaid that there were certain things between them which were just not possible. But now she felt once more that anything was possible and to feel his chest on hers and his hands on her lower back… caressing her…

She did not think there could be anything more pleasant than that.

"Bye baby," he said as she grabbed her bag and left the house, leaving Steve with all kind of thoughts which he had been denying himself in his head.

X x x

"Why don't I finish up here? You can go and spend a bit of time with our baby girl." Bo offered at the end of a gruelling but productive day. Bo knew this was taking it out of his partner. Hope had blamed herself for this ever since they had found out what had happened to Kayla. No matter how long it took they were going to bring _that thing_ to justice but he did not want her making herself ill in the process.

They were getting closer to finding the son of a bitch who had hurt his sister or seemed to be, so it was not going to be too long now but it was going to be no good to Kayla if Hope did herself a mischief in the process.

"I just want to write one more email."

Brady gave her a look which told her all he thought of that.

She tried to come up with a sensible reason why had to do it then but could not.

"I know it is a lot easier too say then do but fancy face you have got to stop blaming yourself."

He was right. It was a hell of lot easier to say than to do.

When Kayla had come to the police station to make her statement she had looked so pale and thin to the eyes and try as she might she had not been able to remember the last time she had truly seen her smile - that hurt her.

"But I am the one who put Kayla through all this." He shook his head. Nothing in the world was going to make him believe that.

"Hope Brady, party of one is the only person in the world who believes that. And if you won't believe me then go and talk to Kayla and speak to her about it."

It seemed to Hope that the trouble always came from when she had been talking to Kayla… but after the years of friendship, it was not right for her to stay away either. She knew that would be worse.

There would be the betrayal.

"Maybe…"

Bo gave her a soft smile. "If you won't listen to me, listen to her."

"I do listen to you Brady – and what's wonderful is for the first time in years is that we're hearing each other."

They were at work, so he knew he shouldn't really kiss her but right then he could not help but peck her on the forehead. He couldn't agree with her more.

X x x

"Hi, I hope this is not a bad time," said Hope as Kayla opened the door, as a new week begun in Salem.

"Not at all, come inside."

She had popped around on the off chance she was going to get her on her own and it seemed to have worked.

She knew that Joey was at school and that Steve was at work —her mother in law had said something to her the night before about Stephanie helping her out the next day so she thought if she went then that she was going to have a decent chance of catching her alone.

And it looked like she had done.

Kayla's shifts were on a night rotation for now. Her first set since the crash.

"Kay I wanted to say sorry to you – that is why I have come over," sighed Hope as she sat down on the couch and Kay came and sat next to her.

All of this was such a mess but she knew she had to start somewhere.

"Why dolly?"

"I do not think for a moment I have made any of this any easier on you."

She had been the one who had tried to quiz her just hours after everything that had gone on in the hospital.

Bo had been the one to learn sign language so they were able to communicate, that had not been her either.

And then there was what she had said and done on the night of the dinner party which really got to her.

It had meant to be such a happy night and if she had only engaged her brain she might have seen sense to leave well enough alone and give her night of fun with her friends and family but she could not even do that.

Then there was of course the big one – the fact she had brought Grayson in to her life.

"Everyone needs to stop playing the blame game you know – this is all down to one person and one person alone and you are not him."

Hope disagreed with that and she had a feeling she was always going to. She was a woman who had belief in cause and effect and the effect of her introducing her to Grayson… well they all knew the affect it had had.

"Hope – none of this is down to you."

"I just can't bear the thought I made life any harder for you when you were already having such a horrible time."

That was not what family were meant to do for each other, on the contra they were meant to raise one another up and it had been a while since that was the effect she had had on her family.

Between divorcing Bo when he had been gone and trying to be with Aiden when she had known the two of them were not right…

"Whatever you did – it didn't add to my worries. And in the end it was because of what you have said and done that I finally got my outlet."

Yes there was a time when she had wanted nothing more than to hold it all in – but it was not as good as saying it outload.

She knew that now.

"I just worry about you."

"And just like everything else I know you do it because you love me."

Hope felt a weight in her heart lift. That was what she had needed to here.

A tear streaked down her face and before she even knew it Kayla was hugging her as if she was one of the kids.

"What is this about? Hope come on."

"There was just a silly part of me which thought after all of this I was going to lose you."

"After all we have been through together over the years? Not a chance!"

Grayson had taken so much from all of them – mainly energy it seemed to Kayla but she was going to damned to hell if he dared to try take her dearest friends.

And so in that spirit she was just was not going to let go.

"We'd have to lose ourselves to lose each other – and I am glad to say that is not going to happen for many, many years to come. We've so much good ahead of us Hope. It is time to focus on that."

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	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

After Hope left, Kayla could not help but bless her heart. She had got herself into something of a tizz over it all – she should not have.

For it was not her fault.

Yet the fact she was the one who had been able to talk to her and take her off of the ledge she had been on was to her just another way in which she was able to prove to the world she was no longer helpless and the truth was, she never had been.

If there was someone in the world who did need to be told that thought it was surely Steven Earl Johnson.

He had learnt that once for himself already.

It had been the night after Kayla had gone back to work when he had heard his son and daughter go to bed early…

Luckily, his loves invigoration had lasted through the day.

Steve had had a bit of trouble concentrating when he had been at that station that day. What Kayla had said to him went around and around his head and all he could think of was her.

In order to try and conserve his energy, he sat at his desk all day and tried to focus. But it was a challenge.

"Have you got cloth for ears at the moment?" asked Bo halfway through the day.

"Quite possibly!" he responded to his brother in law cryptically as his own thoughts stayed focused on that evening.

X x x

Kayla and Steve went to bed not long after Joey that night and they locked the door.

Steve thought it was strange how coy he felt with her.

After the fourth of July the two of them had had no trouble showing their affection to each other. That was after everything had happened.

But a lot had changed since then.

And he knew so much more.

But he also knew the last thing in the world she was going to want for them to change the way the two of them were with each other.

He had to forget how she had looked when she had gone in to the police station the day before and focus on the way she had looked that morning when she had told him of her plans for him that night.

That was what mattered.

If he had been a different man or she had been a different woman then she may have worried that all this was going to change them forever.

But this was them and if there was one thing Kayla knew it was that this was not going to change them or thank god the way he saw her.

They had been tested far too many times over the years but they had never let anything break them and he did not think it very likely that they were going to begin now.

He smiled gently at her.

"Well I have been thinking about you a lot today sweetness," he begun.

It was tenderer in some ways than she was normal but she did not think she minded that over much.

They were good with tender.

"Yeah?" she asked with a coy smile and he nodded.

"Yeah."

"Show me then," she asked softly.

There was heat between the two of them but they were lighting the flame slowly that night.

He came towards her and cup her face in his hands for just a moment before he bent down and kissed her.

There was no one in the world like her he thought to himself.

She had been through so much but she had never let it robe her of her ability to trust or to love or to be brave and have courage.

And a lot of what she had been through… he had been the one to put her through it but he vowed to himself then and there that it was never ever going to be the case again.

"I love you," he said as he reached below her blouse to find the warm soft skin of the woman he loved.

"I love you," she was quick to return

She had loved him before he had ever let her do such a thing and so she knew she was not going to stop – well, she just wouldn't, no matter what. Not till the end came for them both and even then she had high hoped for what the after life was going to bring for them.

It was all over too soon for her liking, but it was loving and tender and she had felt blissfully small with him on top of her.

As if nothing was ever going to hurt her again and in that moment she knew if he could make it so then he was going to.

It was only when she was laying curled in to his side after that she really felt herself sigh with relief. She had known if the two of them had let it be the case they were going to have a barrier go up between them but they had nipped that in the bud.

But it was not as if she felt the two of them had rushed into anything either. It was just that they had communicated in a way which they had always used to hearing one another, even when they could not.

She shut her eyes, wishing she could remain there forever and pleased at least for that night she could. It was quite clear that he was not going to let her go all night long and so it was she went to sleep in their bed with his arms about her.

Which was just how she liked to end the day.

X x x

When it came for the Brady's that year, Christmas was most necessary.

Caroline did not think she could remember too many years like that one for their family. That was not to say it had all been bad for them for she did not think at all not when she had got her Bo back at last – as well as her Kimmie. It had been many years since she had had all of her babies close to her.

Yet s glad as she was to have Bo back at home, for the vast majority of the year, Hope and he had been apart. And then there was the Johnson's…

No, in a lot of ways – and she had to be honest with herself she found – the family had broken down that year.

When she thought of Kayla it was hard to think it was such a good year. Her precious girl had been through for too much. Yes she had had a happy ending with the kids and Steve but she was in no way fool enough to think that wiped out all of the other horrible things which happened to her daughter lately.

But maybe it did go a little way. And now they were all on the rebuild and there was no better way she thought than to begin with a family Christmas. Any way she was going to make it the kind of family Christmas which her Shawn would be proud.

That was she was sure that was the best thing to do.

X x x

Whether it was right or wrong JJ could not help but be reassured by the way his dad had reacted to Kayla's panic attack.

Of course if it was his choice then it would never have happened but against himself he now knew without a doubt his father was not who he had been when he was young and he was no longer the man who – who he had been in the past.

He was a good man and he was one who loved his friends and his family as well. And he was one who had been away from them all for far too long.

Thus Christmas came and for them all he knew it was time to do what they should have done long ago.

He found his mother in the living room of the Horton homestead. It was not yet the day of the tree trimming but if anyone thought that was going to stop Jennifer Rose Horton getting ready for it then they were very wrong.

She had the boxes with the balls in down and was looking at them with as much love as she would if they were actual family members.

"Mom."

"Oh hi baby."

"I need to talk to you."

"Well you have my attention."

He sat down on the sofa and took a deep breath for this was his last chance to block the inevitable if that was what he wanted but it wasn't. What he wanted was for his family to be together for Christmas and he knew it was what they wanted as well.

"If it is what you and Abby want," which he knew very well that it was "…. I am cool with it if my dad moves home."

He had a feeling that more than anything Jack needed to move home for the good of his mental health.

And they were his family. If anyone should be taking care of them it had to be them.

"Baby are you sure?"

With her whole heart Jen wanted her Jack to be at home where he belonged. It was all she had wanted since that awful night when the elevator shaft had fallen.

She was not sure it the last few months had been easier or harder. At least she knew he was alive and well but every selfish fibre of her being had said he was not yet lose enough and she wanted more. Him in their bed for a start where they could be skin on skin.

But with the way their son had reacted to him being back she had known they had to move slowly. The only people in the world who she loved more than him where the children she had given Jack. Rushing JJ would have been to no one's benefit.

And still now she had to be sure that was not what they were doing.

"Baby –"

"Dad needs us and we need him."

JJ knew that was the bottom line and he soon knew he had indeed said it with enough conviction as a smile spread on his mother's face. "I am so proud of you." she knew none of it had been easy for him. But he had come to see who his father really was and in the years to come she knew that was going to be a gift to him. "I am so proud of you, my darling boy."

He gave her a kiss but could not think why. It was not as if he had been on good form.

He had rejected his dad when he could had him home a lot sooner.

And then there was the whole Paige thing and they all knew that was not his brightest moment.

But he could tell she meant it by the tone of voice as was as the fierce look of love in her eyes.

He hugged her back.

"I love you."

"I love you too baby."

X x x

Though it was JJ who had come to the decision, it was Jen who had made the call to Jack to invite him home. It had been so unexpected and of course he had agreed to go as fast as he could. All he had wanted for so long was to go back.

But when he had got off of the phone, he had realised to go to one home he had to leave another. And while on the one hand he was sure he could not have a home without being with his wife and kids, he knew he had found one in the flat with his sister and niece.

He had not been unhappy here.

Adrienne being Adrienne she had been happy for him and soon started making jokes, though he knew this was going to hurt her – as it did him in some regards.

"No doubt you are going to be glad to be away from all the crying and the diapers," said Adrienne as Justin held his youngest niece in his arms.

 _No doubt._

The truth was he would miss them. Very much. Part of him said if Jennifer would have let him go straight home then he would have gone like a shot but the other part of him was so glad he had got the time he had with Adrienne.

They had never had that before. Time to live together and to really be brother and sister in a way they had just not been able to be before.

And to have the time with Katie as well.

That was something he would treasure forever as he had barely got to see any of his other nieces.

And he would miss seeing her every day.

The truth was he was nervous about really going home. It was such a long time since he had lived in his proper family home that he did not know if he knew how to these days.

Be a dad, be a husband.

It all seemed as if it was a bit of a dream to him.

But what a wonderful dream.

After the nightmare…

"Kayla's seems as if she is picking up a bit."

"Yeah I think she is." Adrienne nodded. She paused before saying what she thought he needed to hear. "She wants to let go of the past though – so should you."

"Once I have proven myself to JJ I think that is going to be a little bit easier."

"Jack, can I just remind you, you are moving home. I think you have done that already."

He nodded wanting to believe that more than anything.

"Sometimes I can't believe we all started off as she is now," he said as he looked at his little niece.

She let him change the subject.

"It is an amazing thought."

She did not rightly know how on earth their own mother had survived bringing two babies into the world and then having to give them up.

Especially Steve though she did not think it was right to weigh one loss as greater than the other.

But Jo had had time with Steve. She had got to know his littler personality quirks and it was only after that she had had to give him up.

Jack had been a little baby – may be that was worst. Knowing he was entirely dependent on every one for everything and then not know how was going to be there to see their needs were met.

She was so lucky she had been in a position where she could keep her babies – the one she had given birth to herself and the ones she had not.

That she was never going to have to lay at night and wonder if they were ok.

She shook the thoughts out of her head.

"But then we grow –"

"And life becomes more complicated."

That she could not argue again.

"And then one way or another – life works itself out."

Had she said that to him the day before he had a feeling he would have tried to argue against it. But right then – he couldn't.

That was exactly what his life was doing at last.

What he hoped it was doing.

"Love you." he murmured quietly.

"Love you to, big brother."

X x x

To have Jack Deveraux home for Christmas was the best Christmas present Jennifer Horton could possibly get.

She had waited and waited and it had paid off.

He was home and his stuff was home. And it was the little things like his mug no longer being stuffed at the back of the cupboard and his tooth brush being with her own and the kids in the pot that thrilled her.

But mainly it was him.

Getting a cup of coffee in the kitchen. Sitting reading a newspaper in the sofa.

Standing by the window on a dark night which was just what he was doing then. It had been such rush when she was young to know she had Jack hearts and soul and it had just the same effect of her right then.

It felt the same. She watched him for a while and she was quite transfixed, the way his moonlight hit his salt and pepper hair, the leanness of his body.

It turned out she wanted him as much right then as she ever had.

His back was just as brood as she remembered it from when the two of them had been so very much younger and she longed to reach out and touch it.

And so now that she knew she could she did.

She crept over to the window where he stood and her hand star fished on his skin… it was soft.

It felt so good to touch the man she loved once more.

But it was not long until she wished she had not down.

He jumped out of his skin.

"Sorry,"

"Don't be." She said as she looked up at him.

The fact was she was the one who should have known better than to do that to him. touch him without announcing herself… He had suffered with PSTD in the past and she was not convinced that that was a battle he had won as of yet. And she had to help him in that fight.

If her role as if his wife was not to be there for then she did not know what it was.

Quite asides from all of that he had been on his own for so long now. He was not used to having people around him all the time. At least not in the way that she was.

And certainly not someone who was going to just touch him.

She was about to apologise again when their eyes met.

Jack leaned down and kissed her forehead before leaning his forehead on hers.

God it had been far too long for both of them.

She had longed for him for so many nights and now it was the nearness of him which was so new.

It was hard to think there was a time in her life when she had just taken this for granted.

That she was going to be able to put her head on his chest and got to sleep at the end of the day.

But she vowed she was not going to be making that mistake again.

He was looking at her with a look in his eye that she knew she was never going to be able to describe – not if she was having her best writing day ever.

It was intense and it was full of love and that was all she knew - but then that was all she had needed to know.

Their lips met together and she knew the promise of fulfilment was now not going to be very long in coming.

She had wanted him in the way that she was having him right then since she had seen him all those months ago in the Kiriakis mansion. And now, that night, the long wait to be together was over.

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	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

In the past sometimes Joey had had to be talked into going to Midnight Mass.

He had got to an age where Christmas was, in his opinion not about the Christen message but spending time with his family and while Kayla had to agree with him it was about the time they got to spend all together, that excuse did not often wash with her. But there were no arguments that year because due to the fact they were going with Steve and Stephanie, and meeting the rest of the clan there… it did seem as if they were going to be able to kill two birds with one stone which was something her son seemed happy to submit himself too.

He got ready with no arguments.

She had had thought she might have a bit of working getting Steve there but in the end he seemed happy to go and give thanks to the big dude as he called them and it felt cathartic to be there singing the hymns she had been taught as a child with those she loved the best.

Not only her three immediate family members but her mother, her siblings, her nieces and nephews, their dearest friends… Marcus sat with the four of them when he arrived and they heard mass together.

And to be in the building too. She had had so many happy memories here – weddings and christening. Sadly it was the last place she had said goodbye to her father as well, but that made her feel close to him.

She did like Christmas mass. Somehow it did really did feel a celebration to her and that year was no different. It was a celebration of all the family and herself had got through the year to this point.

The Virgin Mary had had her troubles as she herself had– they both survived them. She drew strength from her faith and from the hand which held her own. Steve's thumb stroked the back of her hand, once more speaking to her through the silence.

This was the start of the holidays – and she had no intentions to let the struggles of the year spoil them. She sang her hopes out, said her prayed and hoped for a better year to come.

X x x

Kayla did not think it had been since Joey was a tiny baby that she had woken up on Christmas day morning to find she had all three of her people under her roof.

They had had his first Christmas together as a family but then they had begun to splinter of. Of course given Stephanie's age that was not surprise. She was always going to want to go and fly the nest.

Steve, on the other hand, had been a surprise and that had hurt a whole lot more.

But Kayla banished those thoughts from her mind as soon as they entered. She had said to herself that was in the past and she meant it.

She was not going to let them go back she mused and she rolled over to Steve's side of the bed.

He had his eyes open and was smiling at her.

"How's my Christmas sweetness?" he asked as he leant over to steal his first kiss of the day.

"Good," she said with a smile but felt her heart sink a little as there was something in his eyes which was not utterly convinced of that even when she said it.

Still, that was just Steve being Steve and loving her.

But that was not what Christmas was about.

She put one of her hand in his and put the other on the soft skin on his chest.

"You know this is Christmas day so I want us to take a break from all of that stuff."

She didn't have to say what stuff she was speaking of for him to understand and she did not know how realistic it was but what she did know she was that ultimately she just so sick of it hanging over them all the time like a bad cloud. She wanted them to have fun.

And this was Christmas Day. It was time to give thanks which was just what they had done when they had gone to Midnight Mass the night before and day was about spending time with the family that they loved

"Well if that is what you want that is just what we are going to do," he said as he rolled over in bed and put a hand on her hip.

She could not help but think that when it was just the two of them, it was already becoming a lot easier to put the past year behind them.

It was not as if he was walking on egg shells round her.

She nodded and leant over to kiss him.

If she got nothing else that day but the joy of waking up to his face then she had a feeling she was still going to go down as the best Christmas which she had got in a long time.

"Good. Merry Christmas," she murmured softly.

"Merry Christmas, my sweetness."

He could not wait to spend the day with their kids but much as she felt the same - that there was something about having a moment just for the two of them.

She moved over closer to him so they were lying skin on skin and he happily, gratefully even took her in his arms.

A sudden remembrance of being on that plane came back to him. Of flying home in uncertainty not knowing if she was even going to still be – there when he arrived home. He held her tighter.

How different this year might have been.

But he was not going to begin Christmas sadly. He was home where he belonged and now he was always going to be.

And she was alive and safe with him nothing else mattered.

X x x

In spite of the fact it had been so long since they had got to spend it together, if the Johnson's did one thing and one thing only that day it was to prove to themselves they were quite good at family Christmases.

They spent the morning round the tree on their own in the apartment. Steve, Kayla, Joey and Stephanie exchanged the gifts which they had got one another and had breakfast on their own.

After church it felt as if this was not the beginning of Christmas but a wonderful interlude where they got to spend a little time on their own before the rest of the family came and they spent time with them as well. It was the calm before the storm…

Marcus was the first one to come in to their little circle and once he had settled, he seemed to have as much fun as any of them. Stephanie did not know how much she had missed her uncle until he had turned up back in their lives but it was no good denying he was a good guy who was a huge help to both her mother and father.

He was a huge part of their family life in fact and his turning up felt like no intrusion on the family Christmas. In fact with him there it felt as if there family was more complete. After all, he was a Johnson in all but name.

They spent a couple of hours holed up in the flat together before they headed over to the pub where there was the promise of Kayla's siblings and their families all being there, thus a lot of laughter and of course a good drop of Irish whiskey.

Nothing could be better as far as Stephanie was concerned as she put on her coat to keep out the cold.

"Are you having a good day dolly?" her mother asked as she gave her a kiss as they passed each other while they got ready.

"Oh yes," she answered as she picked up some presents and made her way out to the car. She was great and having a good day indeed.

And she had a feeling it was only going to get better.

X x x

Joey felt as if he was at peace with the world that Christmas.

A lot of his family had not been for a lot of the year and he had a feeling they were right not to but just then, when they were counted in all safely together at the pub it was hard for him to feel anything except that things were beginning to come about for them. He did not think he had seen his Grandma Caroline look as happy as she did right then for a long time. She was laughing and joking, holding court as her family around the table teasing and having fun with one another.

His own mother looked very like herself.

His dad was by her side, laughing with his Uncle Bo and his sister was cradling little Tate, looking at the little one with love in her eyes.

To him right then, that was the main thing. His family was all good and having a great time.

His attention turned when he noticed his cousin plonk herself down next to him and give him a smile. He was sitting at the bar and thus Ciara and Joey had a good view of the family from where they were sitting.

It was clear she was having very similar thoughts to the ones he had been having himself.

"It has been a bit of a crazy year right?" said Ciara to Joe.

It had been a day for being in the moment for nearly all the family.

But it was the end of the year so there was always going to be a bit of reflection going on.

It was only natural.

Joey agreed with that entirely - all of them were in such a different place to where they started. They had their dads and against the odds theirs fathers had managed to get the women who they loved back. No formal announcement had been made by Bo and Hope but they all had eyes and it was not going to be long now.

And with Steve and Kayla getting back on track it seemed as if it would be ok.

"I am not going to be sorry to see the back of it if I am honest," admitted Joey.

"No I do not think I can blame you for that – " she replied.

It was not so very long ago that they had had one of their chats and he had been the one trying to talk her through it not the other way round.

"How is your mother?"

"She is a lot better than she was." Ever since they had gone to the police she had had a bit more confidence then she had done before hand.

In the New Year with any luck it would be over.

"We are going to get through the rest of it as we have got this far." Ciara nodded and hoped that was the truth, hoping her own confidence would be installed in Joe. She did not like to see any of them sad.

He changed the subject.

"How are your mum and dad?"

She had tried not to let her hopes up or to believe it was going to happen but when she looked at them she was now unable to see a difference between how they were now and how they had been when she was young.

"Good," she said as they shared a smile – "really good."

X x x

On the other side of the pub, Shane and Kim's daughter knew it was now or never.

Having already given her father a nice bottle of red wine and her mother some perfume, she knew it was time…

"Mum I have got one more Christmas present for you if you want it – though how much of a present you and dad are going to see it as is any ones guess." said Theresa as she approached her mother in the pub.

She thought Kim had to be expecting this.

It had been a long road to get to this point where she was not so proud that she was not going to ask this but now she had to come to it she found she was oddly at peace with her decision.

"I am sure if it is something you are giving me then I am going to love it dearly."

Screw going carefully about her that day thought Kim. Her daughter did not want her to shower her with affection but it was Christmas and that was what she wanted to do so her baby girl was just going to have to suck it up.

"I want to come home. And I want Tate and I to live with you and daddy."

It was not going to be forever she said as she tried to reassure herself. As soon as she had got a job and she had some money together she was going to get a placed for her son on her own and they were going to be the only ones living there.

But it was going to such an improvement on the Kiriakis mansion.

When she had talked to Brady about it he had been in complete agreement. As it was right then, there was far too much arguing going on about their boy and if they were not careful then it was going to be unsettling for Tate.

So oddly enough for the two of them they had come to an agreement quite easily and naturally.

They would give co-parenting in separate houses a try – and Theresa let go of a dream which she should have done long ago.

"Oh I love you! Of course, you can both stay for as long as you want – forever, as long as I am concerned – that's the best present I have had this year!"

"Mom!" Theresa protested as Kim threw her arms about her but she did not much care much for that then.

She was going to get her little Jeanie back!

It was as she held her daughter in her arms that Kim noticed her sister and felt the familiar stab of guilt.

Kayla looked good that day and it was clear she was happy but Kim could not help but still feel in agony about what Kayla had had to go through of late.

She was her big sister. She should have been there for her and she should have known what had gone on. What good was she at her job if she had not been able to work it out from her sister's behaviour? As the question rushed round her head, she was sure that was why she was so desperate to gather her baby in tight to her.

It was as these thoughts crossed her mind, she saw her sister was looking at her, knowing something was wrong. Kim looked away, but knew she had given herself away and it was too late.

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	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

Kayla caught her later on in the day – she was Kayla – and she was not going to let it rest.

Kim wished before her sister had so much as opened her mouth they could have had this conversation on a different day.

"Why is it that I keep catching you looking at me in a most odd way?" said Kayla as she came in to the kitchen at the pub.

At long last she had been able to catch Kim on her own which she had feared she was not going to get a chance to all day.

It was not as if the Brady bunch did not number many when they all got together. It was rare there was a chance to get a private word in as Kayla had hoped they were going to do. And now they had.

"I do not know what you mean," said her sister as she tried to put her off with a bright smile.

"I think you do."

Kayla did not want to put her on the spot but she did not want to allow this weirdness to feaster between them either.

Kim looked at her and it took Kayla no time at all to register the tears in her eyes.

"Oh what is it?"

"I just feel as if I have been no good to you at all through this entire thing. I feel as if I should have helped you more."

Kayla thought back to what she had said to Steve that morning about wanting a day off from it all…. She wished she had been able to have that but she knew that the ones she loved were living under the shadow of everything quite as much as she was.

Now she had given her statement to the police in fact she felt a lot light about it all than she had since the whole nightmare had begun and as such it did not hold the power which it had done over her.

But what she was sad to see was it did still hold power over those she loved.

Without a doubt she knew she would be the same because she had been when it had had happened to Stephanie. She had felt as if because she was her mother she should have been there to stop her from getting hurt and up to that very day she believed that had to be true and she wished with her whole heart there was a way to change what had happened to her daughter.

But if her family had not been there in the moment to stop it from happening in the first place, by god they had been there to help her in the response.

Kayla felt her heart sink as she realised her big sister had felt much the same as Hope had and she felt the same need to strangle Grayson for her as well.

But it was nearly at an end now.

Part of her wondered if she should be angry that they were all turning to her with her grief for what had happened and their apologies. It was not as if they helped her. It was not as if changed what had happened. But she knew they were heart felt and at the end of the day when she had been able to report that man to the police she had been able to do something about it - whereas too many people in her family felt they were powerless over what had gone on.

She had felt that powerless when those she loved had been hurt and she had hated it just as much.

"I am going to tell you what I told Hope – it is not your fault."

"But I know you and I know the signs. Why did I not see it?"

"Oh Kim… it was because I did not want you too."

For a long time she had hoped it was all going to go away. It was only after she had got used to the idea it not she had faced facts.

"But I should have been there to help you."

"When I was lying in that hospital bed you were right there by my side – believe me sister – you were there for me."

And she had not stopped being there since.

"And you are still here. And we are spending this wonderful day together, just as Pop would have wanted us too. And if you think you can do anything greater for me than that then you're wrong."

Kim sighed as she swallowed. Kayla bringing out their father had affected her the way it always did. She missed Shawn. But then so did the entire family.

Yet if there was one thing she had to do now she had confessed to feeling guilty, it was to listen to Kayla had get passed it. She was not going to shadow this day for her if she could help it.

The sisters looked knowingly at each other.

"I love you for wanting to take care of me."

"You're my baby sister – I will always want to take care of you."

"And if I know you at all Kimberly Brady, you will." Kayla said with a wink which told her sister it was time for to get back to the party.

They had already spent too much time that day being sad.

X x x

Hope and Ciara had had a great Christmas. It was the best they had had for years. It had begun with a visit to Doug and Julies at the start of the day and then they had gone on to join the Brady Christmas after.

Hope had not realised just how much she had missed having Bo Brady there. She was more than able to walk in to a room full of Brady's on her own but having him there with her felt right. Not that she had ever felt for a moment that she was not family there but there was no good in denying the fact he was her link to them all.

She was not sure if she was yet ready to say it – but it was the truth. They felt right.

And she felt as if that was the case for her daughter as well.

Of course Ciara was a Brady by blood as well as nature so she was never going to worry about being with her own, but she did seem as if she had a little extra sparkle when she was with her dad again.

After she had watched her have a chat with her cousin and wished she was close enough to know what the two of them were saying, Hope watched her daughter go over to her grandmother and father and sit with them for a while. She did not think she was ever going to be able to say her child had lacked confidence but she was more confident than she had been this year of that her mother was sure.

But as all great things did – it came to an end.

"I think we are going to head off now," she said to Bo at last. It was getting late and the family group had begun to break off already so it was not as if they were going to be the first to go but what hit her was how reluctant she was to go without him.

It was the moment which Bo had been dreading for most of the day.

He had had the best Christmas he had had in a long time – and it was because he was with his girls.

But he was not going to push.

"Ok – well let me see you guys out to car." He was not going to let his daughter or Hope for that matter out of his sight until he really had to.

He loved them both so much it hurt him.

Hope swallowed. For a moment she truly had to consider what she was going to do but there was a voice in her which said she did not want them to split up that night, that she did not want him to leave them at the car so she would not let it happen.

"Why don't you come back to the house with us?" she asked lowly.

She did not want Ciara to hear if he was not going to but it took Bo no time to nod in agreement that yes he would go with them.

Once they got back to their house it was not long until Ciara hit the stairs. She had had a wonderful day with her family and now she had the chance to go to bed knowing both her mother and her father were in the house when she shut her eyes and that was not something which she was going to take for granted for it did not happen these days.

And she reminded herself it very much was a one off as she did not want to get excited about it at all. That would not do.

Below, Hope grabbed two glasses and a bottle of wine.

"I was about to say I do not think I could have another thing but it would be rude not too," he said as he looked at the bottle.

And a drink with his Fancy Face did seem the best way to end the holiday.

"It would be very rude!" she reassured him making him laughing as she got the wine opener, then lead him through to the coach.

She was suddenly very aware that though for the past few months, more and more it had just been hers and Ciara's, that once upon a time this had been his home as well.

It was the house where they had had their kids –Zack and Shawn and Chelsea and they had so much history here.

It felt nothing short of right for him to be back.

"Here," she said as she passed him a full glass.

"Thank you, Hope." He nodded as the two of them toasted.

"What are we toasting to?"

"To Christmas and then New Year!" she said as she tried to keep it light hearted.

There was no need for them to toast to anything more serious when they had two such perfectly good excuses right there.

"Well I am going to drink to that. We had a fabulous day didn't we?"

She nodded. She could not remember a better one in recent years - that was for sure.

It was nice to be with the Brady's for it again and she had been able to see what it meant to her mother in law to have all of her babies under one roof again.

It was a pleasure which had been denied to Caroline too often of late and Hope thought they were going to have to change that in the New Year for it was not as if she was getting any younger.

They had a duty to make it all count for her as she got older so that when the time did come when she could go back to the father of her children, she was going to have a great deal of fabulous stories to take with her.

But those thoughts were not for that night.

No, all she had to think about was how well everyone looked and how obviously thrilled they all were to be back together and how right it felt for her to have one Mr Bo Brady right by her side.

"What a year it has been!" he said as the two of them sat side by side at the end of it.

"Well I am not going to disagree with you there." She sighed. A lot of it had been good but there had been so much bad as well. She was not going to be sad to see the back of it and had high hope that things were going to be better for them next year.

"You know it is odd to think where I was last Christmas. What a fool I was, we all were." Him, Jack, Steve, Shane. "I do not know why I keep getting it wrong. Why we all kept getting it wrong."

"Well in your case it is because you are a Brady and that means you have a thick head." She was not going to mention the fact he had the added handicap of being a Kiriakis to boot.

He laughed.

"True."

"Well you seemed to have figured it out now." she believed he had – she really did. The way he had fought for Ciara and for Kayla told him all she needed to know about the way that he felt about their family.

He looked at her very seriously and nodded for it was very important to him that she understood that he absolutely had and he was not going to be changing back again.

He was not going to be leaving her and he was not going to be messing about on things which were other than there family.

Nothing else was worth it.

"I have."

She nodded.

"I am glad to hear it. I do not invite just any man to come back to my house and drink wine with me you know." She said almost teasingly but she knew the two of them were something which she was not going to be joking about or should not be.

They were so precious.

"I want you our daughter's life, in my life," said Hope as she put her hands through his hair. It felt better than she had imagined, being able to touch him like this again.

Words did not describe it.

He could feel her hot breathe on his face as he had imagined he was able to so many times when he had been away.

And then when he had got back he had feared the very worst – that the time when the two of them could be together like this was over good and nothing in the world was going to bring it back.

But something had brought it back to him and he was convinced it was the love the two of them shared between them… it was the strongest thing in the world which he knew and he was sure only that was going to able see them through the day of their lives.

Tether, they threw through caution to the wind and it was not long until he was kissing her as he had done when they were young. It had been a while but he was glad to see they both remembered how to do it.

At first the kisses which he had offered her had been tender for the last thing in the world which he wanted to do when they were so close was something was to overwhelm her.

But it was then he could feel her pulling on _him_ , to come closer and closer.

She had missed him more than words could say and so she was reduced to showing him that with her body.

Bo was more than happy with that.

There had been a time when he had thought he was never going to get to hold her in his arms once more.

That time as gone thank the lord.

He picked her up and the two of them headed towards the stairs, but then he stopped. Their young daughter was up there and he was not going to be part of confusing her any more.

"You have to be sure Fancy Face."

If he went up those stairs then the one thing he knew, he was not going to want to be coming back down them that night. He was going to want to sleep in his own bed next to his own wife and then their little one was going to know he had been home for the whole night.

If he went once more she was going to be hurt and angry and it was going to undo so much of the good he had begun to do with Ciara. As much as he loved Hope though – and by god did he love Hope – he found he was unable to risk him and Ciara for her.

Their little one was his daughter and she had to come first.

But she was her mother's daughter as well so Hope understood what he was saying and she continued to kiss him as fervently as she had done before.

This was game on.

For months and months he had been back in Salem.

But it was only as the two of them went up the stairs he felt as if he was going home. And that was because he was home. He headed the two of them in the direction of the room they had shared for so much of their married life and it felt to him as if his body was a little weak at the thought of spending a night in his own bed with her but for the first time that evening an unpleasant thought came into his mind in the form of Aiden Jennings. It was true since he and Hope had been there, another man had lain with her and in there bed.

But Bo told himself that none of that was going to matter to either of them now as time went on. What was going to matter to them both was the fact he was back.

That was where he was staying.

He placed her on the bed, crawled on beside her and looked down on her for just a moment. The kissing stopped for a moment as they touched one another's faces and looked in to each other's eyes and hoped that everything that they did right then was going to turn out for the best but found they would be unable to stop it even if it wouldn't.

"I love you." He whispered lowly, almost choked with emotion.

"I love you." Her return was much the same.

Then they did begin to kiss once more and their wondering hands sort warm flesh and as Christmas night faded into boxing day, Bo and Hope Brady felt a contentment in their souls they had not felt for an age.

X x x

Hope woke up the next morning and for a moment she felt a sense of peace within in her which she had not felt for so long. A sense of belonging. She had known this feeling before – it was a sense of de ja vu. She had had it for the first time when she had been just a teen yet it had been so long since she had felt it, she had feared she was never going to get to do so again.

It took her a moment to realise what had happened and why she had got to feel like this once more. Then she remembered the night before.

She had taken Bo Brady back in to her life and then back in to her bed. Hasn't she?

She opened one eye lid to see if she was right and yes she was, he was right there next to her in their own bed and it felt as if everything was just – wonderful.

She reached out to his sleeping form to find he really was real.

It was the best Christmas present she had had in a long time.

And one she would cherish forever.

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	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

It was no surprise to Hope that she begun the new year with a bit of a spring in her step.

She believed it was the only way she could begin it after the holiday she had had.

Bo had been around to see her and Ciara more and more and it just felt more and more right that he was there with them.

In heart she wanted to believe more than anything that he was there for the long haul and in time she was sure she would be.

They were never going to be able to change the past but she did not have to let it dictate the future and she had no plans to let it do so.

They had been partners in their work for a while again now and if she had her way it was not going to be very long until they were partners in life again to. She just wanted it all back.

She walked into her office for the first working day of the new year and had hopes for it to be an easy one.

Of course they were going to have to deal with the normal amount of New Year's drunks but she was used to handling that.

She had to admit she was sorry it did not take long for there to be a knock on her door but if she did not want the respect then she should not have asked for the responsibility.

"Come in."

Lani the newest recruit to the force did as she was told. So far Hope liked the girl and though she was going to be a good cop.

"How was your Christmas, Lani? Did you enjoy it?"

"I did."

Hope looked up at her for she was able to hear the nerves in her voice.

"What is it?"

Lani did not reply but put the report she had been carrying down on the desk. She wished more than anything there was a way to soften the blow but she knew there was not.

Hope knew she was not going to like whatever this was but she also knew she was not going to like it any more for putting off reading it. She did so from cover to cover and then cover to cover again as she looked for the part which said this was all a very early sick April fools.

But it was real.

In their wisdom the CPS had ruled there was no case against Grayson which Hope thought was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. It was little wonder at times some people had no faith in the legal system at all. Just then she did not know if she did.

The one thing which was for sure was she would have to go very carefully if she was the one who had to tell Kayla.

But due to her own anger she did not know if she was ready to start thinking about that yet.

All she could do was shake.

In fact she was still doing so when she heard Bo and Steve came into the office and she knew she was not going to be dealing with it on her own for much longer.

And if she felt like this she had no idea how Steve and Bo would feel.

They were joking and she could hear them laughing.

As a cop she knew why the law had to work the law had to work the way it did but as a citizen she did not think she was ever going to understand any of it.

She did not want to Bo came striding to her office just then and there was a tiny part of her which wanted to have a go at him for being so over familiar when he did so (an emotion she had not felt for days) but the bigger part of her said even if she did wan t to take all of her anger and frustration out on some one that to do so on him was going to do no good. She just did not know for the life of her why the word of the respected Doctor Brady was not enough.

It damn well should be.

"Are you ok Fancy Face?" Bo questioned.

She shook her head.

And she knew now why Lani had not been able to talk to her about it all. She felt as the younger cop had done. She knew she had to talk to the boys as she did not want them to read it as she had – she was not sure if they could cope with that.

"No, I am not," she wanted them to understand what had gone on as soon but as gently as they could. But there would be no gentleness in them once they knew.

They looked at her with concern.

"What is it Sweet Thing?" asked Steve as he looked at her.

"Well we are all about to have the worst beginning to the New Year ever."

Bo raised an eye brow.

He had thought it was quite a good new year all in all. He was happier than he had been in a very, very long times. And that was down to her.

But when he saw there was a report in front of her wondered if this was all something to do with work but he understood there was only one case which they were working on which was going to upset her this much.

"What is it?"

"The CPS have – they have decided due to lack of evidence there is no case against Grayson."

Steve felt as if he was going to be sick and he had no idea how in the world any justice system could come to that decision. it felt as if he had been kicked in the stomach and he had had no warning this would happen…

One word went through his head… How?

He knew not everyone saw it as he did but if they knew Kayla as he did then they would. This could not be right. It wasn't right.

Kayla. How was he going to be able to tell her any of this?

All that stress she had been able to shake off had left her as a much freer woman.

"How could they do this to her?" he asked, almost more bewildered then angry, though there was a good amount of anger too.

Bo looked as if he was ready to go and kill who ever had come to that decision.

She knew all and any of them could.

"We are not going to give up and we are going to a have him behind bars."

"You have got that right," growled Bo.

"It is just all going to take a bit more time them we want it too." Hope stated plainly and trying to keep her own anger at bay.

Steve did not say anything more but he knew he could not keep this from her. If anyone had to know then she did.

"I need to go over to the hospital," he realised as he wondered if he could leave it to the end of the day.

If he could leave her in her blissful ignorance but he knew in his heart that was not what she would want and after all she had been through, they had to do all of this the way she wanted to do it. He would never risk her trust.

The two Brady's gave a nod which said they were not going to argue with that. She was going to need him when she found out.

He left the room so angry that it was palpable.

Hope and Bo said nothing to one another for there were no words.

X x x

Marcus and Kayla had had a good morning. In spite of the normal emergency room chaos, they had managed to clear the wards fast and now could get on with the real work of making sick people feel better.

"Just like the good old days," Marcus declared as they walked down the corridor with his arm thrown casually about her, with all the warmth of his brotherly affection for her.

"It does doesn't it? Did Steve being back in the fold for Christmas?"

"Are you kidding me? Is the pope a catholic?" she could not help but laugh and it was then they decided to take a break from the serious business of their work to take a coffee break. They headed to her office, where he quickly sat down before her desk.

"You know I think this year is going to be a whole other a kettle of fish for all of us."

"Well, I will drink to that or I would if I had a drink." She said as she put on the coffee.

2016 was going to be wonderful for all of them if she had her way.

It was when they were in her office that there was a knock on the door. Thinking it was going to be a colleague or a student she called them in and was therefore surprised but as ever glad to a Steve walk in. "We are meant to be at work, Mr Impertinence," she greeted him with a wide smile.

He felt his heart break for her all over again.

"I am sorry to disturb you both when you are both working so hard," he said to try and keep the mood light for just a moment more.

"That is very big talk from a man who is not even at his place of work Homey."

"Well I have come to have a word with Kayla."

"I do believe that is my queue to go."

"Marcus, stay," said Kayla if there was something going on, than all three of them knew in the end they were going to come and tell him in the end. Steve gave a nod. It was better they cut out the middle man. This was not going to be easy so he would not mind a bit of back up and he was going to find out in the end anyway.

"What is it?" asked Kayla as she knew they had to get down to it. She knew him and she knew it was bad.

He stood still for a minute as he tried to find the words and then he crossed the room and kissed her forehead.

She covered the hand of his which sat on her arm and she knew in her heart he was trying to tell her to be brave and as long as she had him then she knew she could be.

Courage.

"Steve."

"We got the report back from the CPS today – baby, they have decided there is no case against Grayson."

She had known as soon as he had said the words 'CPS' but in the end it did not make it any easier. So this was it, the moment when she was labelled as a liar just as she had been by Jack. So it really was all going to happen all over again. She should have known it - everything else had so why shouldn't this.

"Sweetness?"

For a moment she had been so deadly quiet he had had cause to fear she had not taken it in at all but then he saw there was a fire in her eyes. That was why he had fallen in love with her.

"I am not going to give up."

"No, we are not." For the last then thing he wanted was for her to think she was on her own in this for she was not. He was right by her side and he would remain at her side as long as she allowed it.

"He is not going get away with what he did. And he will not do it to another woman if I have anything to do about it."

"I am so sorry sweetness – none of this should be happening to you."

"No," she agreed. It should not be happening to her. But it was.

So she had to deal with that one way or the other. She could melt away, let the shame eat away at her and let that man continue on his way. She could be his victim and it would be the easiest thing in the world.

Or her other option was to take all the love and all the support that she had, and gain justice and the knowledge she had made other women safe.

It was a no brainer. She was a doctor and she never let wounds feaster.

She got to the cause, flushed out the infection and move on to the next case better for what she had learnt from it.

And that was just what she had in mind with the fight she had on her hands now. It wasn't going to be easy – and she had a feeling she wouldn't always feel brave. But she wasn't going to lose. Not in a month of Sundays.

"But it is happening to me – so I am going to face it… and fight it. And win."

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	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44**

"How was school sweetie?" asked Hope.

What she wanted was for Ciara to say she had had a great day and take her mind utterly off the fact she had had an awful one. If the two of them could go home and draw the curtains and chill, may be somewhere in this messed up world that they lived in they were going to be able to find a bit of peace.

Ciara looked thoughtful for a minute and Hope felt her heart drop that she had to think about it. So it had not been as great as she had wanted her daughter's day to be.

"It was ok but everything is as bit weird between me and Chase."

Ahhh – Hope had been so caught up in the adult drama going on she had forgotten what they had got up to lately was going to impact on the kids in that way. And of course it was going too.

"I see."

"It is ok -I think we are going to come through it and hopefully still be friends, but I would rather it be like this and you are daddy be friends then me and Chase!"

Hope could not help but smile at Ciara's description of her and Bo as friends until she felt her daughter eyes expectantly upon her.

"What?"

"Don't what me," Ciara replied in a tone which said she had herd her mother say that to her too many times. "Daddy slept over the other night – so when are you going to ask him to move home?"

It was on the very tip of her tongue to tell her it was far too soon for any of them to begin thinking like that and they were just going to have to see where it went before they did start thinking about Bo moving home… but Hope knew that was why the love of her life had stopped at the bottom of the stairs the other night.

If she had wanted to be able to fob their daughter off then there was her chance to do it but if she had let her father stay the night… she had done so knowing their daughter was going to have plenty of questions after that.

And this was always going to be the big one.

"Are you ready for your daddy to move home? Is that what you want?" she asked. In all of this she had tried her best to make sure she did think of what Ciara wanted.

It had never been just about her and Bo. Not for a long time now.

Ciara had been through so much and the two of them had a lot of making up to do when it came to her.

If this was one of the ways which they could do it…

Ciara did not have to think twice about nodding for fear her mother was going to retract the question and start throwing up walls again.

Bo coming home was all she wanted.

"I want it to go back to how it was when I was small." She was so sick of it being just the two of them – of seeing her mother sad when she was able to see she had a chance of being so happy.

Life was too short for all that. They both knew it.

Hope nodded. She had wanted that too. Before she had written about the divorce she had prayed for it daily. But now she had a chance to bring him back, to see their husband and father home safe and for the sake of her daughter she knew she had to take it – to give their family one more go.

"I will ask him home, ok sweetie?" her mother beamed.

"You will?" her mother could be so stubborn at times that Ciara had had no idea she was going to say she would just like that.

She had thought she was going to have to beg her for weeks.

But she seemed to be a different version of her mother of late.

She seemed softer in a way and she was glad for that. So glad.

She had needed that even more than she had.

"I love you mommy."

"Oh I love you too Ciara Alice," Hope replied as she took her in her arms.

She loved her little girl more than any one save her siblings. Nearing the love she had for her children was the love she held for the man who had given them to her. So it was time to get him home so they could live their lives together. It was the only thing that made sense to her anymore.

Going home with Ciara, asking Bo to come back to them though was not going to solve every problem which Hope Brady had.

More than anything in the world Hope Brady hated the fact she was required to look for more evidence to get the conviction which the family needed against Grayson.

The medical reports and Kayla's word she knew should be enough and if her sister in law had come forward the day of the attack she had a feeling that it would have been enough but suffice to say that events had over taken Kayla and that had not been possible.

None of them blamed her for it. Besides, this was their job – hers, Bo's and Steve's and they would fight for any women who came found and said she needed help.

The fact that it was Kay who needed that help made them all want to fight for her just that little bit more.

She knew what she had to do to try and get that further evidence to get the conviction. To talk to other women who he had harmed.

And she knew enough of his past to know there were rumours against him. Rumours started in fact and reality.

What she hated though was that she only knew one person who held the kay to his past and those rumours and his name was Aiden Jennings.

x x x

"I was not expecting to find you here," said Adrienne as she got back to the flat to find Jack was sitting on the sofa.

If it had been not so long ago then she would not have batted at eye lid but he had made his home with his wife and kids at last.

Not that it was not nice to see her brother and have him back for a while, but she couldn't help wondering why.

"I hope you do not mind – I still had my key."

She shook her head as she shut the door behind her.

"Of course I do not mind."

He had not given the key back when he had left she released and even then she did not want him to give it back to her.

There was no need.

But if he had come here when he could be with his wife and kids then there had to be a reason for that.

"How are you?"

"Not too bad –" in fact in so many ways he was a lot better than he had been in so long.

He had Jen and he had the kids, he felt as if he had a life once more.

But at the same time it was all rather loud and there was so much going on and then there was the absolutely crippling guilty.

He could not shake the feeling that after everything Kayla had gone through –

That it was his entire fault even this time around.

He had enough sense to know if he spoke to Jen about it she was going to say he was going crazy.

And besides the two of them had just got back together and – that chapter of his life was so ugly.

He did not want to remind her of it. He wanted to be Jen's Jack and the man she saw him as.

Not the one he knew himself to be.

A voice in him rebelled against that – told him he was thinking crazy but… he knew who he was and who he wasn't.

But he couldn't shut it up.

He couldn't talk to Jen. He didn't want to talk to the kids about it ever. Steve had enough going on.

And he just wanted quiet. Funny he went to the home of a new-born baby for that, but he found he had missed his sister and her daughter.

"Just missing my sister and her best girl, is that so hard to believe?" he asked as he went over to the pram where Katie was sleeping so peacefully.

"Well I think anyone who is away from her for more than ten second and does not miss her is crazy so no it is not hard for me to believe at all," she said as she looked at her baby and her face became alive with love for her.

"How is she?"

"Oh she's just fine – we went to the hospital this morning and everything is as good as it can possibly be," she said with a great big smile on her face.

"Then went to the park for a bit of fresh air and after Little Miss has her nap we are going to go met her daddy, Sonny, Will and Ari for lunch."

"That sounds as if it is going to be a lot of fun," smiled Jack. "Do you have time for a coffee with your brother first?"

Adrienne tried to shake the feeling there was something which was wrong with her brother but she could not. However knowing him as she did it did not seem a good idea to push him. She would keep an eye on him instead,

"Of course – always!"

x x x

Hope came out of her office into the larger one where she was able to see the love of her life working.

Ever since she had talked to Ciara in the car she knew she had had to have a conversation with him – a very happy one.

But considering she had to talk to Aiden to it was not a purely happy one they were destined to have.

The last thing in the world which she was going to do was hide the fact she was going to talk to Aidan from Bo. In the past when they had been young and foolish they had hide things from each other.

No more, she promised herself.

Seeing as the two of them were alone in the office she crossed the room to him, put her hands on his shoulders and kissed the back on his head, only to find him relaxing back into her arms which was always a lovely sensation.

"You ok Fancy Face?" he asked. As soon as she had come over he had known she had needed to tell him something. He knew her.

She looked down on what he was working on to see it was the search for Grayson… well that was a rather appropriate way into the conversation. .

"I am going to have to go and talk to Aiden about all this."

She wished there was another way round this but the more she thought on it there was not.

She had to talk to him as he was not the only one who knew the bastards history.

Bo sighed.

He could tell how much Hope wanted to do this and it was about as much as he wanted her not to do it.

But that was not due to jealous but down to her discomfort.

"I can do it if you want."

In that moment she loved him more than ever for offering but if the wanted to get any information out of him then that was not the way to go about it.

"No, I think this is something which I have to do."

"I thought you were not going to carry on punishing yourself for what happened."

He did not want to watch as she put herself thought some sort of self-inflicted purgatory.

She did not deserve that.

"I have for the most part." but if she could do this then she was sure she was going to be able to forgive herself at last.

"Well I am not going to argue with you," he said at last for he knew there was not a lot of point in that.

She was so headstrong and she had always been. She did what she thought was right and though she listened to counsel, she had ever been one to follow her own conscience.

Now he was a dad himself he felt for Doug and Julie and the way they must have worried over her when she had been young. It must have been terrified trying to raise her… from when she was small right up to when she had got on the back of his bike.

"Good – because if we are not arguing I can ask you a question."

He smiled up at her for the first time since they had begun having this conversation he felt as if he was able to hear something which sounded a little like hope in her voice.

And it was a beautiful sound.

So much of their family's life had been lived in the shadow of late that he was going to jump at any opportunity for it to be taken out of that.

"What is that then?" he asked with a big smile as he got up to face her.

"Well I want to know If you want to move back home." Hope had thought when she said those words she was going to have to rush through them to get them out but she had not. When the moment for it had come she had been able to say them with confidence. because it felt so very right to be saying them.

Bo in that moment felt as if he had died and gone to heaven.

They were the words he had wanted to hear ever since he had got back to Salem but part of him wondered if he had screwed up too much for Hope to ever consider saying them to him.

He would not have blamed her if that had been the case – he knew he had screwed up more than any man had the right to and then expect to go home once more but she was looking at him so earnestly.

"Are you serious?" he asked with open eyes.

She nodded.

"After all we have been through to get back here I am not going to joke about it I promise you that." she said as she came close and put her arms about his neck.

God it was good to be able to do that.

"Bo the last few years we have made so many mistakes." She was not foolish enough to think he was the only one who had made them though his counted among the big ones.

"And we do not get to live any day more than the one."

If the truth was known she was beginning to get the feeling that she had wasted too many in her life time already. And if she was not going to face up to that then she could say that was down to Bo or Aiden or anyone else.

But when it came down to it she knew the only one responsible for any bad days was herself. She had power over her own life and the only way she lost that was when she gave it to others.

She could carry on as she was, lonely for her best friend – but that was not the way she wanted to live her life any more.

She wanted to live another way.

"And I want to live every day I have left to me with you Fancy Face," said Bo.

She did not think she could voice it any better herself.

That was what she wanted as well.

He cupped her face and looked at her as if she was the most precious person in his life which she was.

She nodded, blinking back the tears she did not want to cry at that moment.

"I am never going to –"

She cut him off, placing her hand over his mouth. "Please let's not make promises we can't keep right now. Let's just agree to go home and love each other the very best we can."

"Fancy face, that works for me," Bo nodded as he wrapped his arms about her and kissed her forehead savouring every moment.

The image of Steve and Kayla curled up on the hospital bed together flashed in his mind at that moment and he found he was no longer jealous. He just felt peaceful and whole in a way he had not done for many years.

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